FPI should reconsider its methods

Visiting to Jakarta yesterday, New York Islamic Center's Imam Shamsi Ali spoke to Antara about the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), asking the hard-liner group to reconsider its methods to do the dakwah. Ali, along with 13 other interfaith representatives from the United States, was in Jakarta to deliver a message of peace and harmony through religious tolerance.

“The FPI still exists because there is public pressure to reduce unjust things in society. But, I disagree that you reduce unjust things through unjust ways, which contradicts the ethics of Islam.”

“That is why I really ask the FPI to rethink their ways, because Islam will always leads toward peace, not cruelty.”

“According to history, [Prophet] Mohammad always uses persuasive and peaceful methods to teach his messages.”

Indonesian LinkedIn members are now more than 1 million

As I was checking my email this morning, I found a message from LinkedIn, saying that it has now passed 1 million Indonesian members. Indonesia is an important market, indeed. LinkedIn, a business related social networking site, was founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003. I joined the service in 2008, although I don't really involve myself in the site activities.

The email says:

Last week a tremendous milestone was achieved when we exceeded 1 million members from Indonesia on the LinkedIn network!

I would like to thank you for your support in helping grow the network to this level. LinkedIn connects over 150 million members worldwide to find jobs, gain and share insights, grow a business and much more.

LinkedIn's growth is very significant, and the increase of its members is even faster than Facebook, which is also huge in the country; Indonesia is Facebook's third largest market. Speaking to techno site The Next Web, LinkedIn says:

Indonesia is an important market for us where we see a huge potential for growth. Two months after the launch of the local language site, this is a significant milestone for us that demonstrate that professionals in Indonesia are interested in building their online brand on LinkedIn.

Budi Putra, my Indonesian fellow blogger who was a former editor for Yahoo!, says that the news is good for the business world in the country:

This stats show that Indonesian professionals have started to believe that online presence is important and crucial, and this is a good news.

OIC says FPI should not act on behalf of Islam

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, questioned the decision of hard-liner group Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) to label themselves as an Islamic community, reiterating that Islam has a standard for the Holy Koran and sunnah (traditions of the Prophet Muhammad).

Ihsanoglu told English newspaper The Jakarta Post at the Presidential Office on Monday:

From where did they get the license to do such things? When somebody says ‘I am doing this in the name of Islam,’ we have to question who gave them the license to speak on behalf of Islam.

[via The Jakarta Post]

Palangkarayan residents kick FPI members away from Kalimantan

Local residents in Palangkaraya, Kalimantan, rejected Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) arrival on Saturday, kicking them away from the airport back to Jakarta. Hours before Habib Rizieq and his members landed, the locals had stayed at the airport, looking for them.

In Blimbing, a village where I currently live, the headliner group has also flourished and multiplied. They target youth and people with little Islamic knowledge. A lot of things have changed since they occupied the village, but another thing happened: violence often comes from the FPI members rather than criminals. They hit, kick and punch everyone that they think is not in accordance with Islamic syariah (rules).

Concerning all the violence by FPI, what Palangkarayan people do, in my opinion, is right. The Jakarta Globe has the report:

Around 700 local residents searched passengers who got off airplanes that landed at Tjilik Riwut airport looking for FPI members.

Some FPI members, including chairman Habib Rizieq, were headed to Palangkaraya for the inauguration of FPI board members at the Palangkaraya chapter.

“People rejected them and demonstrated,” Norman Dani, head of Tjilik airport, said as quoted by Detik.com.

The Indonesian Council of Ulama (MUI) had earlier warned FPI not to go to Palangkaraya. But since members were already on their way, airport management called the airplane operator to divert the plane to Banjarmasin, East Kalimantan and asked FPI members to get off the plane.

“We don’t want any clashes or destruction, “ Norman said.

After blocking the airport for more than two hours, locals dispersed when the airport announced that no FPI members would landed in Palangkaraya.

Failing in English test, an Indonesian maid in Singapore killed herself

A coroner in Singapore found a new Indonesian maid, Sulastri, 26 years old, dead after failing three times in English test entry. In Singapore, maids should pass the English language test before they start working. Sulastri, who died last year, has made the Singapore government drop the test for new maids and replace it with a settling-in program, The Jakarta Globe reported.

On Wednesday, a coroner found that Sulastri meant to kill herself.

The maid, who went by one name, was found hanging in the shower at a boarding house for new domestic workers on May 28. She died in hospital four days later.

State Coroner

Imran Abdul Hamid said there was no evidence of foul play. Instead, her death was “an intentional act on her part.”

The maid and her family faced a large financial loss if she was sent back to Indonesia. Sulastri had reportedly borrowed Rp 7 million ($785) from relatives to work here.

Indonesian maids have to pay an average of 3,000 Singapore dollars ($2,500) to come to Singapore. This includes agent’s fees and medical check-ups, and is deducted from their salary of about 350 Singapore dollars a month.

Photo credit: link