VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

After the sadistic beheading of teachers in France and the series of follow-up actions occurred last October, French President Emmanuel Macron tried to anticipate a recurrence of this incident so that it would not happen again. The French state service will monitor and control 16 mosques in Paris and other 60 outside the capital. Quoting the newspaper Le Figaro, some are being targeted for immediate action by the government, some of which are likely to be shut down. The move is included in a new draft law to prevent so-called Islamic separatism and reduce foreign influence on French Muslims. It is also possible to issue some kinds of certification for Imams who are deemed to have met the requirements. The French Home Minister, Darmanin has sent a circular to every governor in the area where the mosques are located. There are 43 mosques that have closed in the last three years since Emmanuel Macron's government came to power. Macron's concerns are the possibility of fanaticism and the proliferation of extremism in French mosques run by mosque imams. Will this be effective in overcoming this possibility? Is this step acceptable to the Muslim in France and doe not bring about negative responses from Muslim countries? Still, this needs to be proven.

The closure of the mosque and the certification of the Imam of the mosque are actually a series of steps that have been taken previously. At the end of September, President Emmanuel Macron invited the Grand Imam of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Chems-Eddine Hafiz and the officials of the French Mosque Council to agree on steps to be taken, namely a special law to deal with Islamists (radicals) who seek to disobey the Government. To deal with this, it’s necessary to increase the number of moderate priests. One of them is through a vocational program equivalent to Diploma 3. The costs will be borne by the government. However, for a diploma, the graduates must be recognized as equivalent to a university diploma by the state. More technical discussions are continued in the next day's meeting with the Minister of Home Affairs, Gerald Darmanin, the Minister of Education and the Deputy Minister of Immigration. Another step that the French president  is preparing to tackle what he calls "Islamic separatism" in France, is to introduce new, broader laws. This law covers restrictions on house schools and the provision of harsher penalties for those who intimidate public officials using the pretext of religion. In addition to providing identification numbers to children to ensure they are in school, parents who violate the rules can be punished with a maximum prison sentence of six months and also a fine. In addition, there is a prohibition against providing personal information that allows someone to be tracked by those who want to threaten their safety. The bill will be discussed by the French cabinet on December 9.

Of course, the steps taken by the French government to overcome this extreme action have ignited a response from the Muslim community in France. However, as noted by Chems-Eddine Hafiz, vice president of the CFCM and leader of the great Parisian mosque, the current state of Islam in France is at a turning point and Muslims face responsibility for it. French imams have a duty to ensure Islam is not behind the extreme actions that have occured. The plan is that the CFCM will establish a registration for priests in France; each of whom will sign a Charter, before gaining accreditation.

Of course, each country has its own way of dealing with the possibility of extremist actions that threaten the safety and peace of its territory. However, the French government needs to be careful so as not to trgigger negative responses from existing Muslim countries.