This is the fourth year the Indonesian Police have held a short film competition, and this year they choose the very timely theme of “Unity in Diversity” as their selection criteria. Out of hundreds of entries, the film Kau Adalah Aku yang Lain (You Are The Other Me) by director Anto Galon won the main short film category and received a prize of Rp 35 million.
Anto, and the police, also received a great deal of criticism and anger after Kau Adalah Aku Yang Lain premiered online, with many, including politicians and religious leaders, accusing the film of portraying Muslims in a negative light, with some even threatening to report the film to the police for insulting Islam.
After the controversy over the film erupted online, the police deleted it from their social media accounts but you can still watch the short (which has English subtitles) on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2iQT-iOjT0
If you can’t watch it now (and you should watch it) here’s a very quick synopsis: A man who is in critical condition is being taken to the hospital along with his wife. The bridge to the hospital is out and the only alternative path goes through a pengajian (Muslim prayer service) that is taking place on a road.
Seeing the cross on the wife’s necklace, an old man (mbah) does not want to let the ambulance through and disturb their prayers since they are not Muslims. A police officer tries to change the mbah’s mind, as does another Muslim man who reminds the mbah of the sermon they just heard, in which the preacher invokes the film’s titular phrase, “you are the other me”, meaning humanity is all the same — one family. Eventually, the mbah reluctantly lets them through.
“With the theme of ‘Unity in diversity’, [the winning film] is expected to be an inspiration for the unity of our nation,” said Indonesian Police Public Relations Head Rikwanto last Wednesday as quoted by Detik, explaining why it had been chosen.
But the film quickly drew criticism from many online, with the hashtag #PolriProvokatorSARA (meaning the Indonesian Police are provocateurs of racial and religious attacks) briefly trending on Twitter after its release. Most critics said the ‘mbah’ character portrayed Islam as hateful and intolerant.
The chairman of the Advisory Council of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Din Syamsuddin, said the film was clearly offensive to Muslims as it made Islam look like an intolerant religion.
“The film is tangible proof of intolerance and anti-diversity, and hurts other hearts as they celebrate the holy day,” Din said in a written statement on Thursday. Din asked that all parties involved, including the director and the police to apologize.
Soon after the film’s director, Anto, who is Muslim, did indeed offer an apology, telling Republika on Friday, “I have no intention to discredit Islam nor Muslims in Indonesia.”
Anto said he had grown worried about the attitude of hypocritical Muslims whose actions did not reflect the teachings of Islam, which is what inspired him to write the script for the film.
“I believe Islam is gentle, tolerant and affectionate,” he said, noting that the ‘mbah’ character was the only antagonist in the film and that all of the other Muslim characters in the film tried to convince him about the importance of tolerance in Islam. He said that people needed to look at the film as a whole and not just focus on the one character.
“I swear to God, there’s no way I would defame my own religion. I’m a Muslim and afraid of God’s curse,” he said.
Despite the director’s apology and the police’s defense of their film choice, many parties are still taking action against the film. Today, the ultra-conservative PKS political party ordered its members in House Commission III to ask National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian to clarify the matter.
PKS Chairman Jazuli Juwaini said his party had received a great deal of “constructive input” from Muslim scholars and the public about how Islam was wrongly depicted in the film.
A group called LASKAR 313, made up of members from various Muslim organizations, yesterday said that they would report Anto and the film’s actors to the police for insulting Islam in violation of the country’s blasphemy laws as well as the Law on Information and Electronic Transactions (UU ITE), which criminalizes any online content that could be considered insulting to any person or group.
The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) have also said they would assist those wishing to report the film to the police.
Police have not yet officially responded to the group’s report, but we’re quite curious how they would, considering that the film was distributed online as the winner of their contest on diversity.
Despite the noise made by its critics, the short film also has many supporters (besides the police) including GP Ansor, the youth wing of Indonesia’s largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama.
“The film is worthy of its win because it’s good and educative too. A good movie always has a dialectic dimension. The film is open to criticism, but for this movie, I suggest you watch it intact, do not only look at just one small part of it. I can see this film is full of messages of tolerance,” said GP Ansor Deputy Chairman GP Deputy Chairman Ansor Abdul Haris Ma’mum on Friday as quoted by JPNN.
