JAKARTA: A Muslim preacher has been arrested on charges including blasphemy and hate speech after his Islamic boarding school provoked protests for allowing women to preach and pray beside men, police said Wednesday.
The Al-Zaytun boarding school in West Java, Muslim-majority Indonesia’s most populous province, has faced backlash from conservative groups that have accused it of following a version of Islam incompatible with the Qur’an.
School head Panji Gumilang, 77, was detained early on Wednesday after questioning, national police spokesman Ahmad Ramadhan told reporters.
“Investigators took legal action... and he is detained in the criminal investigation agency’s detention facility for 20 days,” he said.
Gumilang faces five years in prison for blasphemy, six for spreading hate speech and 10 on the charge of spreading fake news and intentionally causing chaos in public, according to the charges.
The school sparked uproar in conservative circles and protests outside its compound when social media footage in late April showed women praying in the same row as men.
Women are typically expected to pray behind men in traditional Islamic prayer.
Another practice of the school that sparked controversy was allowing women to give a sermon in Friday prayers, a task usually reserved for men in traditional Islamic teaching.
The school opened in 1999 and holds around 5,000 students.
It is also accused of ties to Darul Islam, a group that fought for an Islamic state in Indonesia in the 1950s and 1960s and survived a military defeat.
Thousands have gathered outside the school several times since late June to call for its closure.
Indonesia’s blasphemy legislation has been on the statute books since 1965 but was rarely used before the end of authoritarian rule under dictator Suharto in 1998.
Conservative forms of Islam have since become more popular in Indonesia, which supports a tolerant version of the religion.
However, rights activists say the blasphemy law curbs free speech and puts religious freedom under increased pressure.
Indonesia recognizes six official religions but the growing use of the blasphemy law is fueling fears that its moderate brand of Islam was coming under threat from increasingly influential radicals.
Jakarta’s former governor, the capital’s first Christian leader of Chinese descent, was sentenced in 2017 to two years in jail for blasphemy.
Indonesia arrests Muslim preacher for blasphemy, hate speech
https://arab.news/zydsu
Indonesia arrests Muslim preacher for blasphemy, hate speech
- Al-Zaytun boarding school in West Java, Muslim-majority Indonesia’s most populous province, has faced backlash from conservative groups
- School head Panji Gumilang, 77, was detained early on Wednesday after questioning
From round fruits to lucky charms: How Filipinos invite prosperous New Year
- Lights are lit, doors and windows open to allow good spirits in
- Sticky rice dishes are served to keep family sticking together
MANILA: With the dining table set with symbolic foods, a bit of noise and rituals to invite good luck, Filipinos are ready to welcome the New Year, carefully observing every tradition and superstition to bring prosperity.
Media noche or the midnight dinner on New Year’s Eve is central to the celebration. Besides traditional meats, there will be sticky rice dishes to keep the family sticking together, and pancit or long rice noodles to represent long life.
There should also be 13 round fruits prepared specifically for the occasion, with 12 representing each month of the year, and the 13th adding extra luck. Because they are round like coins, they are believed to invite abundance, wealth and prosperity.
“We cook bilo-bilo (sticky rice balls) with coconut milk and palitaw (sweet rice cakes). It’s something we simply grew up with,” said Cel Reyes from Mabini in Batangas province, south of Manila.
“It’s sticky, so it symbolizes togetherness, and it is also round. Anything that’s round is prepared also as a symbol of prosperity.”
In Malabon, a coastal city in the northern part of Metro Manila, Priam Nepomuceno’s 86-year-old mother-in-law sets unhulled rice on the table.
“Because of the gold color, it’s believed to bring luck and abundance,” he said. “Grapes are also hung on the door. They’re not meant to be eaten and are kept hanging for the whole year as a symbol of prosperity.”
Some people also jump when the clock strikes 12, believing it will help them grow taller.
In many households, all lights are lit before midnight, with doors and windows open to allow good spirits to enter, while noise from firecrackers and party horns keeps the bad ones at bay.
“By nature, Filipinos are superstitious. We believe in good luck, deities. We give in to faith and luck, and it’s tied to deep spirituality,” said Juanita Galang-Trinidad, an 80-year-old editor from Bulacan province north of Manila.
“We also put 12 coins in varying amounts in our pockets and wear polka dot clothing. Rice, cereal, and salt containers should be full.”
New Year’s celebrations, like Christmas, bring families together, but with extra traditions for good luck. Beyond the midnight feast and keeping round objects on the table and at hand, Filipinos try to pay off debts to avoid financial trouble in the coming year.
On New Year’s Eve, they also avoid serving chicken, as chickens are believed to scratch backward when they eat, symbolically scratching away good fortune.
“We hold on to our traditions despite these growing changes, modernity, in our environment,” Trinidad said.
“We still hold on to our traditions and customs because they identify us as a people, as Filipinos.”
