In yet another alarming sign of the increasing influence and power of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), the hardline group posted photos to its official Twitter account last Friday showing its members receiving training from the Indonesian military (TNI).
TNI and FPI held National Defense Introductory Training and the planting of 10,000 trees in Lebak, Banten.
The “Bela Negara” (National Defense) program, launched by the military to train civilians how to defend Indonesia from “perceived threats such as communism, drugs and homosexuality”, has been heavily criticized before but the notion that the military was specifically training members of the FPI seriously worried observers.
“The military has lost its way in its role as officers of national defense who are also required to contribute to maintaining diversity. Although the military training FPI is not, legally speaking, a violation, politically and ethically, this move could raise tensions and new controversy,” said Hendardi, the chairman of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, in a press statement released on Sunday and picked by Tribun News,
Although FPI has long been believed to have strong ties to the military, the commander of the military base in Lebak where the training was held, Lt. Col. Czi Ubaidullah, was removed from his post after controversy over the pictures spread through the media.
“Based on the investigation that has been carried out by the military command against the Lebak commander, procedural errors were found in that the commander did not report in advance to either his commander or military command before conducting the Bela Negara training,” said Lt. Col. Arh M Desi Ariyanto, in a message picked up by Vivanews on Sunday.
Note that the commander was not in fact punished for holding a military training session for an Islamic hardliner group that regularly acts as the country’s self-appointed moral police, but because he supposedly didn’t inform the right people about it.
But still, we’ll just assume the actual reason the commander was removed was due to the controversy, which, if that was true, is at least a positive sign that there are some things FPI can’t get away with in this country.
