It’s not asyik being Rizieq at the moment.
Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab, who is one of the driving forces behind the movement to criminalize Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama for his alleged blasphemy against Islam, has found himself facing in several criminal investigations at the moment, with reports filed against him for committing blasphemy against Christianity,insulting the state ideology of Pancasila, and falsely claiming that the new rupiah bills feature the hammer and sickle communist symbol (they don’t).
Rizieq was called in by the police for questioning about the latter case recently. And when police presented him with the infamous and widely-shared video in which gave a fiery sermon claiming that the new rupiah contains hidden communist symbols, Rizieq made the least plausible denial ever.
“We’re still investigating. If, say, the person is asked and he says, ‘yes, sir, I did it,’ it’d be easier for us. But in this case, [Rizieq] denied everything. So we must prove the allegations. [Rizieq said] ‘It wasn’t me, it was someone who looks like me,’ so we must prove it,” said Jakarta Metro Police Spokesman Argo Yuwono, as quoted by Merdeka yesterday.
For the record, this is the video that shows Rizieq (or, as unlikely as it is, his look-alike) making the claim about the rupiah, which was first streamed on FPI’s own online TV channel and then went on to become viral online:
How much laughably lower can Rizieq go in order to avoid all the evidence piling up on him? Well, he’s currently facing nine criminal allegations in total, and he’s only been formally named a suspect for one of them so far (the Pancasila insult case), so we wouldn’t be surprised if there will be more desperate denials like this further down the line.
