100s of police called on to protect pesantren from locals’ anger after religious school accused of burning Indonesian flag banner in Bogor

There are few radical acts of anti-state rebellion that attract as much attention as a flag burning, especially around a country’s Independence Day. A pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Bogor, West Java, became the subject of an outpouring of anger from the residents of its neighborhood after accusations men affiliated with the school had burned a Indonesian red and white flag banner that had been hung on their gate the day before Indonesian Independence Day.

Media reports say hundreds of angry residents surrounded the pesantren, located in Tamansari’s Sukajaya Village, and hundreds of police were called in to secure the school.

“There were two people who were taken (for questioning), a school teacher and the night security guard. They were brought in a police Barracuda to the local police station,” said Sukajaya Village Chief Wahyu, as quoted by Detik yesterday.

Wahyu said that the school usually got along well with the community but that, when asked to put up red and white flags and banners yesterday and join along in the Independence Day celebration, they refused.

Witness reports say the flag banners were burning at about 8:40pm on a motorcycle taxi post about 200 meters from the pesantren’s gate. Those who witnessed it called on others to find the culprits. Allegations that somebody from the school had set them on fire, then led to angry residents arguing with pesantren officials, which in turn led to dozens of police being called in to protect the school and mediate the dispute.

According to Wahyu, the results of the mediation is that the school has been temporarily closed. Dozens of police were still stationed around the school as late as yesterday afternoon.

Members of some large Muslim organizations have fiercely criticized a central government education reform, scheduled to begin next school year, due to concerns it would take students away from their daily afternoon studies at traditional Islamic pesantren and madrasah. A viral video from earlier this week showed what appeared to be pesantren students chant “Kill the minister” during a protest against the education reform in Lumajang, East Java.