Blasphemy Cases Of Religion Continue To Repeat, Between Wanting To Go Viral And Too Much Freedom Of Expression

Pastor Gilbert Lumoindong is in the spotlight because his lectures are considered blasphemy against Islam. (Instagram/@pastorgiilbertl)

JAKARTA - "I was taught Islam cleanly before praying, washing everything. I said, you are 2.5 (percent) I am 10 percent, it doesn't mean I am dirty, tainted by Jesus' blood," said Pastor Gilbert Lumoindong in a lecture which later went viral.

A snippet of Pastor Gilbert Lumoindong's lecture suddenly went viral and became the talk of netizens. That's because the first video uploaded to the X account @Munir_East of April 14, 2024, was quickly spread on social media. The content of the lecture in the video is not far from comparing a number of rules and worship of Muslims and Christians.

In the less than one minute video, Pastor Gilbert compares the zakat of Muslims which is 2.5 percent with Christianity 10 percent. Then he said 10 percent zakat made his people not have to bother moving in worship. Then he said that 10 percent zakat made his people not have to bother moving in worship. In contrast to Muslims who are required to pray five times because they only zakat 2.5 percent.

Pendeta Gilbert kurang wawasan. Dalam Islam tidak hanya zakat, tapi ada infak, sedekah dan wakaf dg spektrum ibadah yg luas. Bisa kena pidana penistaan agama anda pak pendeta !! pic.twitter.com/3epp6sDjoL

— Munir (@Munir_Timur) April 13, 2024

Pastor Gilbert lacks insight. In Islam, it is not only zakat, but there are infaq, alms and waqf with a broad spectrum of worship. It can be criminalized for blasphemy, Mr. Pastor!! pic.twitter.com/3epp6sDjoL

Since the video was widely circulated, Pastor Gilbert's name immediately became a topic of conversation. He apologized to all Indonesian people after meeting with the Chairman of the Indonesian Mosque and the 10th Vice President and 12 Jusuf Kalla, Monday (15/4/2024).

However, he was still reported by Farhat Abbas's lawyer to the Metro Police on suspicion of blasphemy.

Blasphemy is an activity or attitude that leads to insulting, demeaning or even demeaning actions. So that in general, blasphemy is an act of humiliation or degrading behavior towards the beliefs of a person or group.

This insult can be in the form of actions, words or others against a belief, symbols, holy books or other religious ornaments, whether intentionally or not.

Cases of blasphemy are quite common in Indonesia. The public may still remember the case that ensnared author and journalist Arswendo Atmowiloto who was jailed for four years and six months in 1990. He is considered to have committed blasphemy after placing the Prophet Muhammad in 11th place in the survey of the number of selected figures from the Tabloid Monitor reader. In the survey, President Suharto was ranked first.

Then there was also one of the most horrendous cases of blasphemy that occurred in 2016, before the DKI Jakarta Pilkada. At that time, the Governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama or familiarly called Ahok, was accused of blasphemy in his speech in the Thousand Islands. Ahok is considered to have humiliated Al-Maidah's letter paragraph 51.

In 2022, a video showing a man from Sukabumi challenges Muslims and steps on us holy Al Quran on purpose.

Then recently the General Chairperson of PAN Zulkifli Hasan was also accused of insulting religion even though his case did not deal with the law. He conveyed a joke about the change in society during prayers, namely by not saying 'amen' after reading the Al-Fatihah Letter and pointing two fingers at the end of the ceremony.

Zulhas made this statement when giving a speech at the National Working Meeting of the Indonesian Market Traders Association (APPSI) in Semarang, December 19, 2023.

Blasphemy of religion is also rampant abroad. French President Emmanuel Macron is said to be an enemy of Muslims in today's era. Macron had said that Islam is a religion that is experiencing a worldwide crisis".

In addition, Macron also took the issue of the caricature of the Prophet Muhammad, which was issued by Charlie Hebdo and called it a form of freedom of expression.

Why do cases of blasphemy often occur in Indonesia? Dadang Kahmad, in the Live Dialektia event with the theme Religious Discrimination: Why Repeatedly? said that the factor that initiated blasphemy came from outside and inside. The internal factor consists of ignorance of the religion he was talking about, and the possibility of hatred. Meanwhile, the factor from outside is social media.

According to him, currently people can be free to express social media platforms. However, not a few people abuse these freedoms to do inappropriate things.

"Please be free of expression, but don't mention other groups," explained Dadang on August 28, 2021, who at that time he was still the chairman of PP Muhammadiyah.

Blasphemy is not only carried out by the upper class, but also ordinary people. They usually use social media to insult religion, such as the case of three women in Karawang who stepped on the Koran in front of a number of residents. Then YouTuber Jozeph Paul Zhang was also dragged into the blasphemy case because he claimed to be the 26th prophet.

In October 2023, a TikTok user was arrested by the police after being named a suspect for Christian blasphemy. This case stems from a video of the perpetrator, Fikri Murtadha (28), from Deli Serdang, North Sumatra (North Sumatra), who talked about Christianity going viral on social media. In his TikTok account @bangmorteza, he talks about crosses so that it injures Christians.

According to Frida Kusumastuti as a Communications Lecturer at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang, now the motive for blasphemy is not only a matter of hatred, but because she wants to go viral and has a large number of followers so that she can get some money.

Frida added, as netizens, we can carry out social penalties for religious penodes so that they are deterrent. One way is to download the negative content, then report it to the police.

Frida emphasized that when we get a news report, before sharing it with other people or the public, what must be done first is to examine the truth of the news. "Whatever we do, we have to prioritize virtue for others, then responsibility. We must be willing to bear all the consequences of what we have done," explained Frida.