Indonesia Pushes for Halt to Prophet Drawing Contest

Jakarta, Indonesia (News Today) - Following the publication by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten of Prophet Muhammad cartoons that sparked protests in the Muslim world in September 2005, another group, Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, is now holding a drawing contest depicting the face of the prophet of Islam.

’Everybody Draw Mohammed Day’ is a Facebook group owned by an American which has announced that it will hold a drawing contest depicting the face of the prophet Muhammad, an act which is seen as an insult to Islam. Depicting the prophet’s face is strictly forbidden in Islam. This Facebook group may trigger protests among Muslims, just like what already happened to the prophet caricatures last year.

Nevertheless, the Facebook group is now to hold a drawing contest, sketching the prophet’s face, which Islamists fear to create cult in the personality of the prophet among Muslims. Indonesian Minister for Communications and Informatics Tifatul Sembiring said he would soon write to the Facebook administrator in the United States asking that the Facebook account to be used for the drawing contest be removed.

The account is feared to spread religious provocations and spark reactions that would disturb interfaith religious harmonies. According to DavidKhoirul.com, the group now has 39,025 fans. More than 14,276 members said they would join the contest, which is going to be held on May 20, 2010.

Everybody Draw Mohammed Day was created on April 25 and now starts to be popular, having fans from both Muslim and Muslim Facebookers. The group info says: ’May 20th 2010 is draw Mohammed day! Help spread knowledge about this important day -- invite your friends!?

The drawing contest to depict the face of the Prohpet Muhammad is feared to spark protests such as those triggered by the publication by Jyllands-Posten of the Prophet cartoons years ago. Danish Muslim organizations that objected to the depictions responded by holding public protests attempting to raise awareness of Jyllands-Posten’s publication. Further examples of the cartoons were soon reprinted in newspapers in more than 50 other countries, further deepening the controversy.

This led to protests across the Muslim world, some of which escalated into violence with police firing on the crowds (resulting in a total of more than 100 deaths), including setting fire to the Danish Embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, storming European buildings, and desecrating the Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, French and German flags in Gaza City. Various groups, primarily in the Western world, responded it by endorsing the Danish policies, including "Buy Danish" campaigns and other displays of support.

Critics of the cartoons described them as Islamophobic and racist and argued that they are blasphemous to people of the Muslim faith, are intended to humiliate a Danish minority, or are a manifestation of ignorance about the history of Western imperialism. It is in this respect that the drawing Prophet Muhammad’s face contest should be halted in order to prevent the emergence of religious disharmony.

Thus, Indonesia wants that the Facebook account for the event should be removed. Tifatul Sembiring will ask the closure of the account from the Facebook administrator in the United States. It is impossible for the country to close it at home because it would affect all Facebook accounts in Indonesia.

"Closing it in Indonesia would affect all Facebook accounts in the country. Therefore, we all need to be aware of this," the minister said here on Wednesday.

Therefore, the minister would write a letter to the Facebook administrator in the United States regarding the plan to hold a Prophet Muhammad drawing contest. He said the plan of the Facebook administrator to hold a Prophet Muhammad drawing contest was a loophole provocation of religious harmony.

"We also call on the people not to be provoked by the content of the account. We should be cooling down in the face of the plan," he said.

On the occasion, the minister also said that he would reconsider the request of certain groups in society to restrict the internet contents deemed negative and contains racist issues, pornographic, gambling, violence and defrauding.

"Matters containing insults of race, ethnics, religions and fraud should be restricted. We cannot avoid them all but must be restricted," the minister said.

Source : kompas.com

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