Indonesia: Time to Respond Against Religious Violence

Abdullah Fahrizal Siddik / March 16, 2011

Two days ago a mail bomb exploded at the office of an Islamic group in Jakarta, injuring four people including two police officers who tried to defuse it. The package was addressed to Ulil Abshar Abdalla, a liberal Islamic scholar and activist known for his criticism against radical Islamist groups in Indonesia.

Ulil, as he is widely known in the media, is the founder and former director of The Liberal Islam Network (JIL), whose office was the package’s destination. He is also a member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s (SBY) political party leadership.

Ulil’s career has been controversial. His 2002 article entitled “Refreshing the Understanding of Islam” drew widespread criticism not only from fundamentalist Muslims but from many moderates as well. While Ulil’s disagreement with the idea of cutting the hands of thieves and stoning adulterers upset only the most extreme elements of Indonesian society, his argument that wearing the headscarf is not obligatory for Muslim women and support for inter-religious marriages between Muslim women and non-Muslim men are sensitive among many devout Indonesian Muslims. (more…)