Several days ago, there was a protest action from some group of people who banned and threat the event of Q film festival. A film festival about gay and lesbian. They did the protest in a peaceful way with no offensive physical action.
(see the info here)I recognize that they wore their
UI yellow jacket as their identity. lets put aside their action in doing so, because what
i'm going to highlight here is the great concern from other
UI students that see this action as a misuse of
the yellow jacket identity because most of
UI students, it appears, didn't fully agree with the protest it self.
They flooded the twitter with bitter reaction on how small parts of
UI students dare to use the yellow jacket to represent their protest. I my self, reckon that the protest
doesn't represent the majority voice of
UI students, that actually open minded enough to response the festival with neutral acceptance. Those small part of protesters are students who retaliate with religion-base organization in
UI. They are known for their active opposition toward some of government policy and
Islam-related activities. But again, we have to remember that
UI students come from various area
religions and ethnicity. Thus, we should also realize the
very varied point of view and stance that UI students have. That is why, i suggest, if some part of
UI students about to do a protest or whatever, try hard to bring the tag of which specific organization they are actually represent. In other hand, those twitter rage about the protest action are somehow could be a sign of how
progressive is the open minded thinking and point of view that we had today.
I see that, in
today's world, there is no need in doing such action since it's
creating more instability rather than stability, in terms of inter-faith relation. In other hand, i also questioning the base judgment of those protesters in doing their action, since, we can not banned something that actually out of our authorities. we have the police if it seems that the festival is violate the law.
Isn't it will be easier fro them to report and bring their concern to the police? the real party with authority?. And, if they
don't agree that such movies to be played in Indonesia, why
don't they just NOT watch it?. well, okay they also can suggest their friends not to watch it anyway. see? it is simple but practical. I my self, i am not pro gay and lesbian, but i prefer to respect them as human being. I understand that the Q film festival is an effort to increase the awareness toward the existence of gay and lesbian. The increase of awareness itself
doesn't necessarily mean supporting the increase of gay and lesbian numbers in Indonesia. It is more into an effort to make the society consider gay and lesbian as human being with expectation that this
understanding will ( at least) reduce the discrimination,
bullying and unfair action toward gay and lesbian. Well, since i am not a pro, then I will simply avoid watching those movies and tell my sisters, family, boy friend, etc not to watch that either.
If, let say, they (
UI students) did their action based on their devotion to their religion,
Islam, then why
don't they do it in a more manner?. I am a
Muslim and I am fed up with all stupid actions that only worsen the name of Islam in the world eye. if we
don't agree with something, trust me, there will always more polite way to show our disagreement. Protest,
violence or anarchy are never the answer!. Those are non-
peaceful conducts and clearly a far than good PR strategy. If, we want to make people respect and love
Islam then we have to show them the mercy,
tolerance and kindness just like our Prophet did throughout his life.
Don't you think that our beloved
Islam has enough bad publicity by tons of media around the world?. And do you think that kind of news make
Islam become more acceptable and seen as something positive? Hell NO!.
The world is in a rapid change into the pole of positive values such as human rights and equality. We see, learn and observe how the world become more open into some essential issues.
Don't we learn that being a good person means react and response toward challenges of daily issues with
assertiveness?.
Aren't we smart enough to start thinking how to build a strategy to rehabilitate
Islam's name in the eye of billions of people around the world? when will we realize that
violence, anarchy,
terrorism, threat etc are detrimental for inter-faith relationship? it is time to show that
Islam is a peaceful religion. we valued noble kindness, we were
taught to live in peace with others.
And, for others who shows a wiser response toward such issues. I salute you!. I know that you are kind of people who are open your self to the exposure of
Internet.
Haha. We know that bunch of news and stories about wide ranging issues that took place around the world need to be handle gently with more responsible approach.
wisdom. We learn, from the worst war, conflict and disputes that happened around the world that
violence and anarchy are never the solution!. We see some people are being the worst human being and hurt us at some point, but, we
don't let our self to act the same or show the same attitude. we know that our brotherhood and sisterhood (in religion, ethnicity, etc) sense are being tormented so hard by some irresponsible and cruel, people, but we learn to be patience and strengthen our faith.
we sharply absorb the humane values that progressively develop in our world. we know how to properly react and response toward differences, by embracing it, NOT condemn it!. And i believe our small tiny voices in twitter,
facebook or blog are the sign of the awaken of tolerance in Indonesia. So, keep open mind, be comprehensive, careful and wise!.
