The tipping point, terrorism and crimes against humanity

OPINION Thu, 10/07/2010 10:28 AM

The tipping point, terrorism and crimes against humanity

Jennie S. Bev, Palo Alto

It’s mind-boggling that the National Police have claimed they are one of the best police forces in the world in tackling terrorism and that the government has claimed it is an administration that governs a pluralistic country. Their claims are far from factual conditions. Otherwise many people wouldn’t be puzzled.

The Islam Defenders Front’s (FPI) acts of terror are rampant and have reached a point where religious minorities, including both non-Muslims and Muslims, have no place to stand and breathe. Recently, the places of worship and private residences of the Ahmadiyah Muslim sect have been ransacked, destroyed and burned. People have been abused physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Nothing the FPI does projects an image of peace, which is what Islam stands for. The FPI are more than religious extremists. And the Indonesian government has not acted properly to ensure they no longer perform acts of terrorism in the future.

The government must ensure that future acts of terrorism are eliminated, including those that may be perpetrated by the FPI on any civilian and any minority group. Only in this way could the country be called an integrated and pluralistic nation. Today, Indonesia is merely a segregated pluralistic country, or in other words, it looks pluralistic on the surface only.

To this day, a joint ministerial decree issued in 2008 banning Ahmadiyah members from practicing their faith in public or spreading its beliefs is still in force. In 2005, the MUI (Indonesian Ulemas Council) also issued an edict that said Ahmadiyah was heterical and blamesphemous.

Let me humbly remind the government that it allegedly “condoned” those brutal acts legally (through the joint decree) and morally (through the MUI’s edict). It might be true that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono previously expressed his sympathy to victims and asked the police to maintain security.

However, by upholding the joint ministerial decree, the government became the perpetrator of so-called “legalized persecution.” It violated the 1945 Constitution (the right to worship), principles of democracy (the protection of minorities) and principles of human rights.

Of course, the government has not signed the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Otherwise, Indonesia would have to ratify and enforce the statute. Upon enforcement, crimes against humanity could be brought to ICC in the Netherlands.

The Rome Statue defines crimes against humanity as offenses that constitute a serious attack on human dignity or cause grave humiliation to one or more human beings.

Crimes against humanity are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part of a government policy

(although the perpetrators need not identify themselves with this policy) or are part of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority.

Murder, extermination, torture, rape, political, racial, or religious persecution and other inhumane acts may reach the threshold of crimes against humanity only if they are part of a widespread or systematic practice.

Let me underscore this phrase: the wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority. Not performing sufficient measures to prevent attacks by the FPI falls under this definition.

At this point, we need to keep pressuring the government and Yudhoyono to use their consciences, maintain security and respect the Indonesian people’s sense of justice. International human rights watchdog organizations are working hard to pressure the government. And we, the people, are now waiting anxiously for a tipping point.

The “tipping point” is a theory popularized by Malcolm Gladwell, which refers to the moment of critical mass, threshold or a boiling point. Certain individuals or situations may trigger the boiling point for sociological change.

Considering the current state of frustration with and distrust of government by concerned citizens, it is not an exaggeration to predict that a tipping point for Indonesia is near. Such an occurrence might manifest itself in various forms, among which include the possibility of a revolution.

A revolution itself is a fundamental change in power that takes place in a short period of time. How and when it will take place is a big question mark.

It is simply a historical fact that change occurs periodically. Indonesia has endured far too long and is ripe for a major change where every citizen is equally protected. Things are boiling now and the tipping point is near.

The writer is an author and columnist based in northern California in the US and can be reached at www.jenniesbev.com

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/10/07/the-tipping...-against-humanity.html

Worst to come for Ahmadiyah as more turn a blind eye

HEADLINES Tue, 08/10/2010 9:39 AM

Worst to come for Ahmadiyah as more turn a blind eye

The Jakarta Post, Mataram

A single day erased a year’s worth of effort by the Jamaah Ahmadiyah congregation members to renovate their dilapidated, old mosque which has stood since 1977 in Cisalada village in Ciampea district, Bogor regency.

On July 12, the district chief of Ciampea, Budi Lukmanul Hakim, accompanied by 24 public order officers and 300 police officers, destroyed the steel foundations for what was to be an extension of the mosque.

The action caused Rp 250 million in losses for the congregation.

“It took us one year, starting from Lebaran, to collect donations from the congregation to achieve that sum of money,” said Ahmad Hidayat, an Ahmadi cleric.

The congregation has not received any settlement for the losses caused by the local administration’s action nor has it received a response to their settlement request, he added.

“We pleaded with the District Leadership Assembly [Muspika], especially the district chief to cancel the plan [to destroy the mosque],” he said. “But the plan went ahead due to many reasons and [social] pressure.”

The foundations were destroyed on orders expressed in a letter issued by the district chief after the administration was pressured by hard-line mass organizations in three surrounding villages, according to the Institute for Democracy and Peace (Setara).

“Since the district chief was not brave enough to defy the masses’ requests, they asked us to stop constructing the mosque so that we would not incur greater losses,” Ahmad said, adding that religious oppression was common in society.

“A junior high school student was beaten and stoned by children from a neighboring village for being part of Ahmadiyah, which they consider deviant,” he added.

There are currently 650 Ahmadiyah members and one Ahmadiyah mosque in Bogor, according to Budi.

Setara vice-chairman Bonar T. Naipospos said the destruction of the mosque was the result of the-discrimination Ahmadiyah congregations faced, which had worsened with the politicizing of the Ahmadiyah issue.

The regional secretary of Garut district, West Java, saw his performance decrease after his opponents accused him of being an Ahmadiyah member.

“Accusations of being an Ahmadiyah congregation member have become a stigma for many officials,” said Cecep A. Sentosa, head of Garut’s Ahmadiyah congregation.

He said that on June 13, the Anti-Ahmadiyah Movement organized a demonstration against Ahmadiyah in which the members went in convoy to several administration offices to seek out civil servants who were Ahmadiyah members.

“The demonstrators also demanded the local court and police disband Ahmadiyah and seal our mosques,” he said, adding that the mosques had not been sealed thanks to good coordination between the congregation and local administration officials.

He added that the administration generally took a neutral stance on the issue with the exception of a few officials who demanded Ahmadiyah stop their activities citing pressure from various organizations.

There are currently 1,500 Ahmadiyah members and five active mosques in Garut, Cecep said.

Setara reported that on Aug. 7, a meeting led by the Bayongbong sectorial chief Sutia and attended by the Bayongbong District Leadership Assembly as well as the head of Cigeduk Indonesian Ulema Council “asked” 15 Ahmadiyah members to “repent” by leaving Ahmadiyah.

Ahmadiyah members in Tasikmalaya district and Kuningan district face religious persecution as well. On July 29, hundreds of Islamic extremists attacked an Ahmadiyah mosque in Manis Lor village in Kuningan, West Java.

Bonar of Setara, said Ahmadiyah’s plight was rooted in a joint ministerial decree issued in 2008 that banned congregation members from proselytizing.

“This itself is a violation of the congregation’s religion and human rights from a democratic perspective since the government has no authority to state whether a belief is considered right,” he said, adding that the government, especially local administrations, had chosen not to oppose the oppressive organizations because they provided support when needed. (gzl)

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/08/10/worst-c...-a-blind-eye.html