The Jakarta Provincial Government’s now-cancelled plan to hold the taraweh prayer on the grounds of Monas (the National Monument) has become a PR nightmare for them, particularly after the plan was heavily criticized by the country’s largest Islamic organizations including the Indonesian Ulema Council, Muhammadiyah, and Nahdlatul Ulama.
But in the face of widespread opposition, Vice Governor Sandiaga Uno reached for a more millennial-friendly explanation to justify his administration’s previous plan yesterday, saying that had been requested by some in the religious scholars community for its social media vanity value.
“The idea came from numerous sources, including several scholars who we met with. And what’s interesting was that some of them said that Monas provides a sense of unity,” Sandiaga said, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
“And one reason many of the scholars used, especially the young scholars, is that this (Monas) is Instagrammable. It’s very unifying and Instagrammable.”
Taking snaps for Instagram while praying? Even the least-educated Muslims know that’s inadvisable. Perhaps that is why the hashtag #TarawihInstagrammable has become wildly popular today on Indonesian social media today, becoming one of the top trending topics in the country as netizens tapped into their creativity to mock Sandiaga’s statement with memes like these:
https://twitter.com/gustrid_/status/998608519917023232
A: Why are you in hell?
B: Corruption
A: You in the corner?
C: Theft. You?
A: While everybody else was doing wudhu (ablutions), I went to the bathroom to take a mirror selfie
https://twitter.com/dimsadiningrat/status/998744990766395392
A: Why are you in hell?
B: Corruption
A: You in the corner?
C: Theft. You?
A: During taraweh, while the Imam was giving his sermon, I walked up beside him, put my arm around his shoulder and said, “WAZZAP GAYZZZ WELCOME BACK TO MY INSTAGRAM STORY”
Some tweets bearing the hashtag were direct criticism against Sandiaga:
Kwalitas wagub DKI.
Ibadah yg mestinya untuk Allah, malah jadi riya.#TarawihInstagrammable— Kang Mas Wari (@Wari_EL_Dawangi) May 21, 2018
That’s the quality of the vice governor. Worship that’s meant for Allah becomes something to show off to others.
At least it didn’t take a hashtag for Sandiaga Uno and the Jakarta Provincial Government to hear the critics. The vice governor announced yesterday that they had cancelled the taraweh in Monas plan and that the prayer would instead be performed at the nearby Istiqlal Grand Mosque, which has the capacity to hold over 120,000 people. It would have been a shame to see such a magnificent mosque go to waste, since, y’know, taraweh prayer is meant to be performed in mosques anyway.