The fact is, Anies Baswedan is not a radical governor let alone intolerant. Even the various recognitions of Anies as a tolerant figure were conveyed even directly by minority groups in the capital.
The fact is, Anies Baswedan is not a radical governor let alone intolerant. Even the various recognitions of Anies as a tolerant figure were conveyed even directly by minority groups in the capital.
SINCE serving as governor of Jakarta in 2017, there has been a small group accusing Anies Baswedan of being a radical and intolerant figure. In fact, they tried to make believe, the capital city would become Syria if it is still led by the former Chancellor of the University.
Anies is silent. He stays focused on work. He restrained himself, including holding those around him to deny the accusations.
According to him, there is no need to answer a statement with a statement. But answer the statement with reality.
And until his term ends in October 2022, Anies also answered the accusation of being a radical and intolerant figure with facts and real work. It works effectively.
The fact is, Anies Baswedan is not a radical governor let alone intolerant. Even the various recognitions of Anies as a tolerant figure are conveyed directly by minority groups in the capital.
Recently, for example, Anies Baswedan in just one day, inaugurated two churches at once. They are the Indonesian Bethel Church (GBI) Jelambar Timur in Penjaringan, and the Pentecostal Church in Indonesia (GPdI) the Jordan Gading Griya Lestari Congregation in Cilincing, North Jakarta.
Anies Baswedan said, Jakarta is the node of all elements in Indonesia, so the sense of unity must be strengthened, especially in collaboration to build houses of worship.
In this case, Anies emphasizes the importance of an attitude of mutual tolerance so that any equality between religious rights can be organized and managed.
“This can be an example and an illustration of how we can live together and be united as a nation. To achieve the unity and integrity of Indonesia, every individual must practice an attitude of tolerance and equality in all aspects. Then a sense of justice will emerge, so that a sense of unity will be formed.
In the final analysis, we also want this unity to be sustainable,” he said.
The former Chancellor of the University hoped that the church congregations from both the East Jelambar GBI and the GPdI of the Jordan Gading Griya Lestari Congregation were able to be significantly involved in the unity and integrity of the nation.
He also assessed that the inauguration of the building of worship aside from aiming to provide a sense of equality in worship, is also expected to make the spirit of the congregation grow and be encouraged to do good deeds.
“Hopefully, this church will become a place that is felt useful for the surrounding environment. We also express our appreciation to all parties involved in the construction of the church building in accordance with applicable regulations,” he explained.
“This is important to maintain harmony with the surrounding environment and spatial planning of Jakarta. So that maintaining harmony between religious people is able to add more peace and shade to Jakarta,” said Fery Farhati’s husband.
Anies Father of Equality
Not only that, the National Easter Institute for the Jakarta Christian Service Center yesterday also awarded Anies Baswedan as the “Father of Indonesian Equality”.
Chairman of the Jakarta Pentecostal Church in Indonesia (GPdI), Pastor Jason Balompapueng said that the award was very worthy of being given to Anies.
The reason, he said, the policy that leads to equality in the capital city carried out by the former Chancellor of Paramadina University is not new. He has been doing it for approximately five years as long as his terms.
“I think that for DKI Jakarta there can be no doubt. He is very worthy of being a governor who truly maintains tolerance, inter-religious harmony. This is incredible. And we as residents of DKI Jakarta are very, very grateful,” he told KBA News.
He also considered that Anies Baswedan is a great figure. He said that he witnessed the greatness of Anies Baswedan himself in commanding the capital city.
“He is a very great person. He has the ability to exceed his capacity as governor. He has far greater abilities than his current position,” he said.
Anies also expressed his gratitude for the award. “Yes, I express my appreciation, thank you for the extraordinary award,” said Anies Baswedan to the media crew, after the event.
He said that the task of equalizing and providing justice for the community is the government’s obligation. “This is all done as part of the government’s task,” he explained.
“And this is the direction of our constitution. Present equality, make sense of justice a real experience. And that is also what we have been trying to do in Jakarta,” he said.
The former minister of education and culture also said that this appreciation and award is a joint effort of all parties, for Jakarta and Indonesia to be better.
“Hopefully in the future we can continue to build Jakarta as a city that gives a feeling of equality, provides equal opportunities and makes us feel safe, comfortable, protected,” he said.
Intolerance politics is mere haters’ accusation
Meanwhile, Volunteers for the Prosperous Indonesia National Alliance (ANIES), Wonosobo, Central Java, assessed that the radical and intolerant accusations against Anies Baswedan were baseless and only accusations without evidence.
“Actually, the argument about who is intolerant is not of interest to Mas Anies, using methods like that but there is no evidence and it can be refuted that Pak Anies is not a radical or intolerant figure,” said Communication, Media and Public Relations Division, ANIES Wonosobo, Sabar Al Imron to KBA News recently.
Instead, he said, the Number One person in the City Hall is a figure who can communicate with non-Muslims warmly. Not only that, in his development and policies, the former Chancellor of Paramadina University is pro against minorities in Jakarta.
“With Chinese people, with NU, Muhammadiyah with others too. In fact, these accusations are currently being carried out by anti-Islam groups,” he explained.
He also emphasizes that Indonesia, especially Jakarta under Anies Baswedan’s governorship, is an area that is very tolerant of minorities or those who adhere to different beliefs.
“This is a Muslim-majority country (Indonesia), but it has never hurt, never attacked non-Muslims. We’re good enough. Maybe Indonesia can be said to be a minority paradise when compared to the United States,” he said .
Meanwhile, the General Chair of the Pentecostal Church, Pastor Johny Weol, also said that the assessment of Anies as an intolerant figure was wrong.
“So the rumors about him (intolerant), I think it’s wrong, his social touch, especially for the church, means a lot to us,” said Johnny in a written statement.
He said that during his tenure as governor of DKI Jakarta, Fery Farhati’s husband, many churches in the capital city received operational assistance for places of worship or BOTI.
“In Pak Anies’ time, we pastors in Jakarta from all churches in Jakarta received what is called the operational assistance for places of worship (BOTI) which really helped the churches,” he said.
BOTI Year 2022
Previously, Head of the Mental Spiritual Division of the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government Dikmental Bureau, Aceng Zaeni, said that as long as Anies was governor, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government distributed BOTI to thousands of mosques, churches, and other places of worship to monasteries . Value of IDR 1 million to IDR 2 million.
“For BOTI, the value is Rp. 2 million for mosques (12 months) and other places of worship, while musalas are given Rp. 1 million in assistance. There are 3,300 mosques in total,” he said.
As for the church, there are 1,379, Sunday school teachers and the boarding house are also assisted. In addition, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government has distributed Rp149 billion in aid for the renovation of houses of worship for all religions.
There are 65 houses of worship from various religious communities assisted by the Provincial Government in 2022. “There are 65 houses of worship in 2022, be it churches, mosques, monasteries, prayer rooms and so on,” he explained.
The total financial assistance distributed by the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government for houses of worship for all religions in 2022 is Rp11 billion to renovate the 65 houses of worship for religious people.
Funds for houses of worship for all religious communities in Jakarta continue to increase every year, including an increase in the number of places of worship assisted by the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government.
Esa Unggul University political communication observer, M. Jamiluddin Ritonga sees support for Anies Baswedan not only from Muslims. Support from outside Islam, said Jamil, has also begun to emerge for Anies’ candidacy.
“This means that efforts to corner Anies with identity politics have not succeeded,” Jamil told KBA News, Sunday, September 4, 2022.
In contrast to Prabowo Subianto, who was declared by his party, his electability was only three percent different from Anies. This means that Prabowo’s electability is relatively in place.
In fact, in 2019 Prabowo was one of the presidential candidates who obtained a relatively high number of votes. Therefore, with such a large electability, the current electability can be said to be very small.
Meanwhile, Ganjar Pranowo, with 36.9 percent electability, is certainly a natural thing. This is because Ganjar volunteers and their supporters continue to intensely gather support throughout the country. Every day we hear declarations from thousands of residents to support Ganjar’s candidacy.
Ganjar volunteers are also active in helping the community, including basic necessities, house repairs, and various community needs. All of this, of course, requires a large amount of capital, which Ganjar cannot possibly finance alone.
With the intensity of Ganjar’s volunteers and their supporters, of course, the electability that Ganjar currently gets can be said to be small. Ganjar’s electability should have exceeded 50 percent and above.
So, Anies’ current electability has worried his competitors. They saw Anies as the main threat to realize his dream of becoming president.
Perhaps this is what makes Anies often attacked by supporters of his potential competitors.
“They hope that Anies can be stigmatized as a follower of identity politics so that people are antipathy to him,” said Jamil. However, it seems that so far this method has not succeeded in stopping the electability rate of Anies, even when he has not yet embarked on this route yet.
Rewritten by: Haz Pohan, Editor-in-Chief, KBA News
