The trial of cases related to Joko Tjandra will end soon. In the forgery case, all defendants have been found guilty. While in the bribery case, the intermediary in the case one Tommy Sumardi, Joko’s friend and in-law of Malaysia’s ousted Prime Minister Najib Razak, has been found guilty. We are still waiting for the verdict on Joko and the two police generals (Prasetijo Utomo and Napoleon Bonaparte) who are indicted for receiving approximately Rp9 billion in exchange for helping to erase Joko’s name from the fugitive list. Separately, the trial in the case of conspiracy with key defendant prosecutor Pinangki Sirna Malasari continues. After nearly four months of proceedings, the prosecutors had read their demands for Pinangki. But the demands are far from public satisfaction. 

By the end of 2016, we saw the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leading a band of religious conservatives to accuse the then Governor of Jakarta Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama of blasphemy. This movement briefly threatened the stability of the nation and emboldened the FPI to broadcast their deranged extremist views. An example of such views would be the accusation that the Central Bank had incorporated the logo of the banned communist party into the newly designed rupiah bills. The public has grown anxious to the point that calls for the disbandment of FPI emerged once more. But we have to wait for over three years of seemingly endless drama before it happens. On Dec. 30, 2020, the Government finally officially disbanded the FPI. The public rejoices, but FPI resist. We wonder what will happen after this decision.