Opinion | Why Indonesia’s new Christian police chief is no game-changer in a Muslim-majority nation

Listyo Sigit’s appointment as Indonesian police chief is welcomed in a country where minorities are often sidelined in top government posts

But he is not the first non-Muslim in the role, and his loyalty to President Joko Widodo remains his greatest asset, with his faith an afterthought

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo and General Listyo Sigit Prabowo (R) are seen during the new police chief’s swearing in ceremony at the presidential palace in Jakarta on January 27. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:15pm, 28 Jan 2021Updated: 8:29pm, 28 Jan 2021

Four years ago, public protests involving hundreds of thousands of Indonesian Muslims succeeded in pressuring the country’s judiciary into convicting former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama – a Chinese Indonesian Christian also known as Ahok – for blasphemy against Islam. Since then, Islamic identity politics has enjoyed increased stature in Indonesian politics.

So it was welcome news when President Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, recently appointed Listyo Sigit, a Christian by faith, as Indonesia’s new police chief. Some commentators hailed it as Jokowi’s vote of confidence in pluralism.

But the circumstances surrounding Sigit’s appointment cast doubts on whether it was indeed a deliberate act affirming minority rights in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The Indonesian constitution disavows discrimination based on religion but its practice has historically been sketchy.

When former president Suharto appointed Benny Moerdani, a Roman Catholic, as commander of the Armed Forces in 1983, he did so to reward his loyalty. Moerdani kindled much rancour in Muslim quarters as he acted as the president’s confidante for the next several years.

It was whispered that Moerdani, along with other prominent Catholics such as the Wanandi brothers and then-finance minister Radius Prawiro, were part of a secret Catholic cabal, headed by a Dutch Jesuit priest, Father Josephus Beek.

Almost 40 years on, not much has changed in how the Muslim majority often feel insecure about their place, except that democratisation means they are freer to voice the sentiments considered a taboo under Suharto.

Admittedly, Jokowi did face some pressure in his sole nomination of Sigit as police chief. Muhyiddin Junaidi, the deputy chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), commented that “it would be strange if Indonesia had a non-Muslim” top cop.

Nevertheless, opposition to Sigit’s candidacy was minimal, given that the country’s largest Muslim mass organisations, Nadhatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, had openly given their blessings. Neither did any political party in Parliament object to it.