Would a fatwa stop Indonesia’s ‘fake news’?
A large Islamic civil organisation is likely to issue a decree against dangerous online hoaxes that can raise ethnic and religious tensions, but critics say the Koran already considers ‘fake news’ a sin
Indonesia’s highest Muslim clerical council is set to issue a religious decree that prohibits the circulation of fake news on the internet, underscoring rising concerns that hoaxes are inflaming ethnic and religious tensions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.
The idea was floated by Pemuda Muhammadiyah, the youth arm of the country’s second-largest Islamic civic organisation Muhammadiyah. With a decree, the group aims to curb the proliferation of fabricated stories, especially those dispersed by agent provocateurs during elections in the world’s third-largest democracy.
“In Islam, slander is a big sin,” Abrar Aziz, chairman at Pemuda Muhammadiyah, told This Week in Asia. “It is so troubling that many young people nowadays are involved in the business of distributing hoaxes online.”
Aziz said the proposal still needs to be studied by Muhammadiyah’s upper echelons who hold the authority to declare a fatwa on an issue. Once it is approved, Aziz expects the country’s top Muslim clerical body, Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI), will follow suit, boosting the fatwa’s legitimacy nationwide.
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“It is possible” for MUI to declare a fatwa on fake news soon, says Yunahar Ilyas, deputy chairman at the Ulama Council.