Indonesia, explained.
Abu Bakar Ba’asyir challenges his conviction at Cilacap District Court in January 2016 (Photo: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty)
A decision to release the notorious extremist only leaves Jokowi looking weak, out-manoeuvred, and poorly advised.
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Indonesia: releasing Abu Bakar Ba’asyir wrong on all countsIndonesia: releasing Abu Bakar Ba’asyir wrong on all counts
President Joko (Jokowi) Widodo’s decision to release Abu Bakar Ba’asyir is misguided, legally questionable, and politically inept.
It sends the message that if one defies the state long enough, it will eventually capitulate. It emboldens those who see democracy as incompatible with Islam because that’s what Ba’asyir has been arguing all his life. It gives jihadists back their hero, his status elevated still more by apparently winning his freedom without having to accept Pancasila, the state ideology, or pledge loyalty to the Indonesian state.
Why did Jokowi choose to act now, when it was inevitable that he would be accused of trying to score political points?
It makes the president seem either Machiavellian enough to do anything in exchange for a few votes, or so politically deaf and blind that he had no idea of the consequences. It suggests that he reserves his compassion for one high-profile extremist who happens to be old, rather than for other prisoners who are critically ill, victims of mob persecution, or simply too poor to pay off corrupt courts.
All this said, the release – if it goes ahead, as opposition seemed to be rapidly building on Monday within Jokowi’s own camp – is unlikely to suddenly increase the risk of terrorism in Indonesia. It also does not signal any reduction in Indonesia’s counter-terrorism efforts. Detachment 88, which leads that effort, was as startled by the decision as everyone else and some of its officers are deeply unhappy about the release of a man widely regarded as a leading ideologue of violent extremism in Indonesia.
But it is so wrong on so many grounds that one can only wonder where Jokowi is getting his advice.
The end result is that Jokowi ends up looking weak, out-manoeuvred and poorly advised. Not a good image as the presidential election campaign heats up.
Sidney Jones
About the author
Sidney Jones
Sidney Jones is senior adviser to the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) in Jakarta, an organisation she founded in 2013.
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