In what is the exact opposite of the peaceful spirit of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a viral video showing a group of kids singing about hatred and violence in Jakarta has raised concerns about the rise of extremism among today’s youth.
The video shows a group of kids holding a raucous parade to welcome Ramadan while chanting, “Kill! Kill! Kill Ahok! Kill Ahok right now!” in reference to former Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, a minority ethnic Chinese and Christian who was recently sentenced to two years in jail for committing blasphemy against Islam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF8LWl_sbMM
The local media believes that the video was taken on Wednesday in the Kampung Melayu neighborhood of East Jakarta, the same neighborhood in which twin suicide bombings killed 3 police officers and left 12 wounded on Thursday evening in an attack which has since been claimed by the Islamic State terrorist group.
The kids’ chant is disturbingly similar to those sung by members of hardline Islamic groups like the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), who literally called for Ahok’s head in previous religious rallies against the then-governor.
The viral video seems to back up a recent study by the Setara Institute, who found that, out of a sample of 760 public high school students in Jakarta and neighboring city Bandung, 11% believe that an Islamic caliphate is the best form of government.
“There was also 1% of respondents who supported what ISIS is fighting for. There was even 0.4% who supported acts of terrorism,” said Setara Institute researcher Aminuddin Syarif, as quoted by CNN Indonesia today.
The National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA) also noted that identity politics has increasingly become a justification for bullying in schools throughout Indonesia recently. They believe that part of the reason for this is that many parents take their kids along with them to religiously motivated political rallies.
“It’s not rare that kids are involved in rallies even though they don’t actually understand what’s going on,” Komnas PA head Arist Merdeka Sirait said, as quoted by CNN Indonesia.
Arist called on parents, teachers and religious leaders to prevent the seeds of radicalism and intolerance from being implanted into Indonesia’s children.
