Now this I think is pretty ridiculous.
I read in detik.com today, that Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam - HMI (Islamic Student Association) has issued a somation to Abdullah Gymnastiar (Aa Gym) for his involvement in the government-funded advertisement on the increased prices of fuel. In the ad, Aa Gym motivated the Indonesian people to accept this increase, and work harder to cope with this situation.
However, HMI sees this as “blasphemy”, because Aa Gym used Islamic jargons to promote community acceptance for this government policy.
HMI claims that it is the only organization that still use ISLAM as their foundation; and have always used it in their movements towards public interest. HMI sees this increased prices of BBM as a burden to the Indonesian people, and that this policy should be fought against. This rise of fuel prices, is (according to HMI) caused by American interest to global capitalism; and not due to the world’s increase in oil prices.
They demand that Aa Gym apologizes to the public about this issue, broadcasted in all TV stations, and 10 national newspapers. If not, they will file a case on Aa Gym for blasphemy on Islam.
In my opinion, I think HMI should “get real”. Promoting an unpopular government policy, and accusing Aa Gym for blasphemy are just two different things. If you look at the ad, I don’t see a speck of blasphemy (sure, maybe I’m not looking deep enough). What Aa Gym is trying to do, is to try to change public reaction (or over-reaction) from extreme refusal (massive strike, vandalism, crime) to a more positive reaction like determination and hardwork. I’m sure that the reason why he accepted to participate in this policy campaign is not solely for government interest, but also to to help citizen to focus on the solution, and not on the problem itself.
As for fuel prices, I admit I may not know much about global capitalism, but I know that increase in fuel prices can not be avoided. Indonesia was previously the 3rd cheapest-fuel-selling-country in the world. Budgets and Government spending is too much on subsidizing for fuel.
As for blasphemy… come on man… I think a LOT of Islamic individuals or even organizations performs a worse form of blasphemy (vandalizing public property). Aa Gym is a da’i (preacher); he doesn’t need to use Islamic jargons; wherever he walks, whatever he says, he already (more or less) represents Islam. But see it this way… has he ever used Islam as a mean to promote/provoke violence, or public non-cooperation? As far as I know… they guy only speaks of peace and progress. And hell yea, I second that!