Amid increasing calls to disband the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) for its record of violence, the hard-line Islamic group was permitted to present arguments during a hearing in the Marriage Law judicial review case at the Constitutional Court (MK) on Tuesday.
Ina Parlina, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Headlines | Wed, October 15 2014, 9:31 AM
Amid increasing calls to disband the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) for its record of violence, the hard-line Islamic group was permitted to present arguments during a hearing in the Marriage Law judicial review case at the Constitutional Court (MK) on Tuesday.
The FPI had earlier asked the court for the opportunity to present arguments concerning Article 2 of the Marriage Law that stipulates that marriage ceremonies should be conducted according to religious teachings.
The judicial review was filed by three graduates and one current student from the University of Indonesia’s School of Law.
FPI lawyer Mirza Zulkarnain said it was important for religion to regulate the act of marriage.
“If the legality of a marriage is based merely on a civil contract, it is not marriage, but merely a kumpul kebo [cohabitation] agreement.”
Chief justice Hamdan Zoelva confirmed that the court had permitted the FPI’s participation in the hearing as the group possessed the right to be heard as “a related party” in the case.
He added that the court had requested the participation of other relevant parties, including the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Muhammadiyah — which is the nation’s second-largest Muslim organization — as well as the House of Representatives.
Positioning itself as a Muslim interest group, over the years the FPI has been implicated in a number of violent attacks against those whom it often labels “infidels”.
The latest incident involves a violent demonstration against Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, whose leadership the group rejects because he is a Christian of Chinese descent.
In another incident in 2013, a resident was killed and three others injured during a clash between FPI members and residents of Sukorejo, Kendal, Central Java, that broke out after residents tried to prevent FPI Temanggung branch members from conducting a vigilante sweep of the village’s red-light district during the fasting month of Ramadhan.
The Marriage Law neither sanctions nor outlaws unions between couples of differing religious backgrounds, nor does it stipulate that only couples of the same religious background can register their marriages with civil authorities.
Article 2’s ambiguity, however, fuels opposition to interfaith marriages, prompting the judicial review, which seeks to secure greater legal certainty for interfaith unions.
Representing the government in the hearing, head of the Religious Affairs Ministry’s research and development division, Muhammad Machasin, said that in a country upholding the ideology of Pancasila and a belief in one God, it was a Constitutional right to respect marriage.
“It is clear that upholding constitutional rights necessitates an obligation to respect the rights of others,” he said.
Separately, Hendardi, chairman of human rights watchdog, the Setara Institute, praised the court for granting the FPI an opportunity to be heard regardless of its history of violent intolerance of others.
Hendardi said he hoped the FPI would learn from the example set by the court to respect others’ rights and forsake violent intimidation of dissenting views.
“The government and the court must treat everyone equally,” Hendardi said. “[The FPI] has been heard [at the court] in a democratic way. Therefore, it should learn that [in Indonesia] it must respect others and channel its beliefs in a democratic way.”