Op-Ed by: Haz Pohan
Recently, a baseless anti-Arab attitude provoked by a group of haters has become more and more rampant. There are many cases that should be qualified to be convicted but to no avails.
Their despicable behavior – mocking different ethnicities, cultures, religions, and backgrounds – is becoming more and more common. One of these racist targets is none other than Governor Anies Baswedan. The reason seems simple: they are still raging why their candidate, Ahok, was easily defeated by Anies in the gubernatorial elections in 2017.
Recently, they can not hide their rage and amok to find Anies’ electability increases, proven in survey or poll results day by day. For them it would be the end of the world if eventually Anies would win the presidential election in 2024.
THERE was a viral video of a young man who questioned why recently anti-Arab statements appeared. “O the desert lizard, go back there to Arabia. Don’t be an Indonesian Arab. Don’t follow Arab culture. Why do they hate Arabs? Have the Arabs ever done anything bad to our nation?” asked the young man in the video.
He answered the question himself: “Of all the colonizers of our country, Arabs are not on the list. They are: Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, English and Japanese. None listed Arabic.”
“In fact, in our history there are 5 countries that first gave (de facto) recognition of the our independence in 1945, after the Proclamation. They are: Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen,” he said.
The true historical fact is that the first 7 Arab countries to recognize Indonesia’s independence, namely Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, were followed by all member countries of the Arab League. Outside the Arab region there were Australia, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Ukraine, Vatican and India. After Indonesia was accepted as a member of the United Nations on September 28, 1950, all member countries of the United Nations, except Israel, became our friends.
Obviously, there are 10 Arab countries that become our initial capital to gain other international recognition.
That’s why the young man in the video expressed his anger: “Why don’t they tell admirers of the former colonialists in this country: Don’t follow European culture, Japan. Go back to Europe and Japan there!”
He was very angry with the twisting of historical facts and the game on the issue of SARA by cornering the Arabs.
Anies Baswedan and Arab a matter of fact
There is something interesting about the ethnic identity of the Governor of DKI Jakarta, Mr. Anies Baswedan. He is an Arab descendant.
During his election campaign for the Governor of Jakarta in 2017, he met all the communities present in Jakarta, from all ethnicities and religions or community of residents from various regions.
What the die hard group who hates Anies has a problem with is the fabrication of opinions to justify Anies’ intolerance ideology, as if he only visited the FPI Headquarters in Petamburan, and there Anies made a brief statement regarding the role of ethnic Arabs in Indonesia and their contribution to the independence of this country from colonization.
The recording of Anies’ statement at the FPI is always being slandered by them – the die hard haters of Anies – ahead of the Youth Pledge Day (Sumpah Pemuda) on October 28 every year, to discredit him.
They twisted the opinion that Anies’ speech at the FPI headquarters only mentioned “Arab descendants who declared the Indonesian homeland” in 1934 through the Indonesian Arab Party (PAI). While the Youth Pledge, which contains roughly the same content, took place on October 28, 1928.”
This is where Anies is labeled a liar because Indonesian youth declared the Youth Pledge in 1928, earlier than the statement made by the Indonesian Arab Party.
Then the context of Anies’ statement should be read in its entirety. Let’s read what Anies’ statement contains.
“Our parents used to be the founders of the PAI (Indonesian Arab Party) whose Arab Party declared an Indonesian homeland, declaring Indonesia was their homeland in 1934. Arabs said Indonesia is homeland since 1934. Let’s think about what happened “desperately” in 1934. Did Indonesia already exist? Not yet.”
“If the Javanese say I am Indonesian, if it turns out that Indonesia did not happen (independence, ed.) they are still Javanese, (in the same vein) if Bugis people would declare I am Indonesian, if it didn’t materialize, he is still Bugis.”
“Well, these Arabs didn’t have anything yet (Indonesian independence, ed.) But they already (dared) to declare ‘ I’m Indonesian’. They have sworn an oath to the homeland of Indonesia even before Indonesia existed. Nobody did that except for the Arabs in Indonesia and did it (on behalf of) the whole (Arab) population (in Indonesia).”
“What would it lead to? I also conveyed to Jomir Tohir when I was invited then as Minister of Education and Culture, now I am not but still invited there. I said that this was the forerunner of the national movement and the Indonesian Arab Party pioneered to declare its goal of independence (of this country). And after Indonesia’s independence, PAI was dismissed.”
“Look in which world, there would be a party that after its goal has been achieved disbands and tells each of us to go anywhere to dissolve. Some of them went to NU, PNI, some went to PSI. (They are now) free,” Anies closed his statement.
In the recorded statement, it is clear that Anies’ intention is that only Arab descendants –of all foreign descendants living in Indonesia – dared to make a statement of full support for Indonesia with various risks they would face. He did not claim the Arabs to be compared with all Indonesian ethnic groups, or the Bumi Putera (sons of earth).
Colonial apartheid government and its people
The Indonesian Arab Association (PAI) or Persatoean Arab Indonesia (in the old spelling) is an Indonesian Arab association founded by Abdurrahman Baswedan in 1934 in Semarang to encourage the allegiance of Peranakan Arabs to Motherland Indonesia.
AR Baswedan, that’s the official name of Anies Baswedan’s grandfather, as recorded in history is the founder of the Indonesian Arab Party.
As a background, during the colonial era, the Dutch colonial government divided the country’s people based on race in the spirit of ‘Apartheid’. This means that the colonial government officially enacted discrimination based on race, religion, and ethnicity in the law.
In the law, the Dutch government divides the population into two groups in Indonesia (Dutch East Indies). In 1848, as stated in Article 109 of the Regering Reglement (RR) and also articles 6-10 of the Algemene Bepalingen van Wetgeving 1846, the two groups were: 1) Europeans and their equivalent, 2) people of the natives or the ‘Bumi Putera’ and those who are likened to them.
This concept is discriminatory. The Dutch divide the classification based on differences in origin and nationality. Not on equality before the law. As a result, there is a big difference between the two groups regarding their legal position (rechtstoestand).
For the record, besides the Arab Party, there is the Chinese Party, which was founded in 1932. There were four political parties who were pro Dutch (accomplices), and there were pro Indonesia who wants to assimilate with Indonesia natives or with the Bumi Putera people, because it didn’t take a stance –like PAI– which claims all classes, status, origins, and profession to solidly pledge to become united with Indonesian nation. They disbanded when the Proclamation of 1945 Independence reached.
Anies stated that the political statement was very bold and risky. First, the status of the subject determines the unequal rights (privileges) and obligations between the European, Foreign Eastern (Timur Asing) and the Bumi Putera group.
This means that all privileges (all beneficial) that had been granted to the Arabs were abolished. They made a declaration to the effect that their legal status would be now of the same category as ‘Bumi Putera’, the lowest caste in the Apartheid policy of the colonial government.
Second, in the non-European stratum in the category of ‘Foreign East’, most of the traders and assistants of the colonial government in dealing with Bumi Putera, enjoyed their comfortable status and therefore it was natural to be pro-Dutch. So, the effect of PAI’s statement is that the Arabs were sided with the struggle for Bumi Putera. Arabs were friends in arms of the youth who were members of the Youth Pledge supporters.
So, it is not true that the PAI declaration is contradicted with the spirit of the Youth Pledge.
Third, with the apartheid and ‘divide et impera’ policies, the Foreign Easterners are prepared to become enemies of the people struggle at the same time as Bumi Putera and PAI, with a political stance to fight for an independent Indonesia, or to help the colonial government suppress the Bumi Putera, including the Arabs in it.
Bung Karno: Arabs are Indigenous People
It is interesting to reveal the political impact of the PAI’s statement of support for an independent Indonesia. At the beginning, Anies explained the Arab group’s sole loyalty to Indonesia as their ‘homeland’.
“We are now independent. Of course we should be grateful to Allah the Almighty. We also have to thank all the people who have fought for our independence. Because there are descendants who are also fighting to help the struggle.”
If they the PAI Arabs were oppressed during the colonial era as consequences of the statement of siding with the fighters in the colonized land and sacrificed their status and provileges because of their pro-Indonesia political stance then in the era of independence that attitude became a precious investment.
No less appreciation was conveyed by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Soekarno In his speech in Semarang in 1948 he stated:
“We are now independent. Of course we should be grateful to Allah the Almighty. We also have to thank all the people who have fought for our independence. Because there are descendants who are also fighting to help the struggle.”
“We also have to thank the people of Chinese descent. We also have to thank the people of Indian descent.”
“But we shouldn’t thank the Arabs.”
“Why? Because… they… have been part of our nation’s extended family for hundreds of years….!”
As an implication of this residential status policy, Bung Karno himself proposed and drafted the Government Regulation No. 10 which was approved by the MPR that citizens of Arab descent were given citizenship status with the same ‘passive system’ as the Bumi Putera citizens, or indigenous people, and they were automatically considered and recorded as Indonesian citizen.”
Meanwhile, citizens of Chinese and Indian descent and others are classified as ‘Active Stelsel’, meaning that to become Indonesian citizens, they must register themselves and get a certificate of citizenship before doing so.
This is what distinguishes Arabs from other ethnicities in the context of foreigners who lived in Indonesia at the time when founding fathers formulated who was ‘indigenous’ or ‘native sons’ and why ethnic Arabs are legally and sociologically considered as ‘Bumi Putera’.
The Habib Kribo Phenomenon
Therefore, the ‘anti-Arab’ spirit that is currently rife in Indonesia is certainly a-historical. Only based on ‘envy’ because their status is indeed different from other foreign ethnic groups, or because there is political competition – without referring to the Pancasila principle and the spirit of diversity – and perhaps the dimension of political competition and especially with the backdrop of economic domination. Obviously, this is the motivation for the act of dividing national unity and unity.
Because of that, the appearance of a person who seems to look of Arab descent in the viral video, a man called ‘Habib Kribo’, with his racist words can have a long tail.
SARA’s racist statement that inflames ethnic superiority can cause chaos, it is actually a criminal listed in the penal code, an act that deserves legal sanctions.
Netizens are worried that if Habib Kribo’s statement – without government firm sanctions– reaches the Middle East it could cause a ‘diplomatic incident’ and even a ‘diplomatic fiasco’ between Indonesia and Arab countries.
Indonesia’s interests with Arab countries are far greater than their interests in Indonesia. For example, regarding the pilgrimage, employment as well as financial resources or education made Arab countries considered strategic to us.
A former UN diplomat, Anis Prince Dache, commented on his TikTok account @princedasche, that there were many public requests for Habib Kribo’s videos to be disseminated in Arabic countries. He refused because he didn’t want to make things worse. Hundreds of thousand Indonesian migrant workers work and live in Arabia and tens of thousands Indonesian students study in the Middle East countries.
The CEO of The Billionaire Deals then asked Habib Kribo with good intentions to apologize and provide clarification.
If Habib Kribo refuses, Prince Dache will take the matter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And perhaps, the ambassadors of Arab countries in Indonesia would hold a ‘joint demarche’, a joint protest to the Indonesian government to take actions.
Plus catholique que le pope
Habib Kribo is known to attack Habib Bahar, Habib Rizieq Shihab (HRS) and Anies Baswedan.
In a dialogue showed on television, he also had an argument with Babe Haikal alias Haikal Hassan.
There are supporters of Habib Kribo, but most do not sympathize with his attitude which provokess a calm political atmosphere in the midst of the country’s still vulnerable situation in the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition, Habib Kribo is also known to have clashed with Babe Aldo, a supporter of Habib Bahar of the 212 movement group.
Who exactly is Habib Kribo? The owner of the real name of Mr. Habib Zein Assegaf who is usually called Habib Kribo, because of this distinctive unusual hair style. He is also a YouTuber who often shares daily activities on his Instagram account with intolerant contents.
In one of his uploads he mentioned that the title of Habib is not an achievement so there is no need to be proud. The surname ‘Assegaf’ that he bears explains that he has descended blood from Hadramaut, Yemen.
His hatred of Arabs and Islam is surprising, because he himself comes from there, and lives with Middle Eastern community and culture as well. His hatred exceeds that of the ‘Anies’ Bashers’ a group of die-hard people who hate Governor Anies and are still holding a grudge as to why Anies managed to beat Ahok in the 2017 gubernatorial election.
He has plus catholique que le pope attitude and mentality.(kba)
