2011 Yet Another Bad Year for Human Rights: Setara

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2011 Yet Another Bad Year for Human Rights: Setara

Ulma Haryanto | December 06, 2011

Only a handful of those involved in the attack on a small Ahmadiyah community in Cikeusik, Banten, were charged, and they only received prison sentences of just a few months. An Ahmadi survivor who almost had his hand hacked off, though, was charged with provoking the attack and sentenced to six months in prison, half a month longer than his attacker. (JG Photo)

The year 2011 has been yet another period of abject failure by the government to protect human rights, according to the results of a survey released on Monday.

Bonar Tigor Naipospos, deputy chairman of the Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy, said the survey of leading rights activists, community and religious leaders and bureaucrats showed no improvement in the state’s efforts to protect rights.

“There has been no significant change or effort from the government to uphold human rights compared to the previous year,” he said.

“The survey used a similar approach as last year. The Setara Institute grouped the variables in eight categories and measured how these items were perceived by our 71 respondents.”

Bonar said the category respondents rated the lowest was the resolution of past human rights violations, which received a score of 1.4 on a scale from 0 to 7. Last year’s worst-performing category, the perception of religious freedom, improved from a score of 1.0 to 2.3, while elimination of discrimination dropped from 4.0 to 2.8.

“Even though the score for religious freedom improved, one item in that group that still received a low score was the handling of cases of violence against minority groups,” said Ismail Hasani, a researcher at the Setara Institute.

He said that this year the worst of those incidents was the attack by a mob of 1,500 on a small Ahmadiyah community in Cikeusik, Banten province. That attack, in February, led to the deaths of three members of the beleaguered sect.

Only a handful of the perpetrators were charged, and wound up receiving prison sentences of just a few months. An Ahmadi survivor who almost had his hand hacked off, though, was charged with provoking the attack and sentenced to six months in prison, half a month longer than his attacker.

Hendardi, the Setara Institute chairman, called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to “construct policies that uphold human rights through the resolution of past human rights abuses, end impunity and provide legislation enabling the enforcement of human rights.”

“Compared to previous presidents, Yudhoyono has the strongest political backing because he was directly elected by the people,” he added.

“So there’s no excuse for him for not to uphold human rights.”

Researchers said that on the positive side, survey respondents were more satisfied with the performance of state bodies such as the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), the Indonesian Commission for Child Protection (KPAI), and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas Ham).

“Komnas Perempuan received the highest score, with a 3.7, while the KPAI got 3.6 and Komnas HAM got 3.4,” Ismail said.

“Another government initiative that received a higher score was terrorism eradication.”

The survey questioned 71 respondents across 13 provinces in the country. It was carried out in September and October and focused on items in international covenants on human rights.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/2011-yet-another.../482919

The Thinker: Open or Closed?

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The Thinker: Open or Closed?

Elaine Pearson | November 18, 2011

“Now we are vilified,” an Ahmadiyah imam told me last week at a mosque outside Jakarta that is threatened with closure. This is not the Indonesia that US President Barack Obama described last year on his visit to Jakarta, when he said, “Even as this land of my youth has changed in so many ways, those things that I learned to love about Indonesia — that spirit of tolerance that is written into your Constitution, symbolized in mosques and churches and temples standing alongside each other, that spirit that’s embodied in your people — that still lives on.”

In Bali this week, Obama should urge President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to protect the rights of religious minorities and take urgent steps to protect religious freedom.

Religious tolerance in Indonesia is in danger. There has been a surge in deadly sectarian attacks against religious communities and dozens of mosques and churches have been forced to close. In the first nine months of 2011, the Setara Institute, which monitors religious freedom in Indonesia, documented 184 incidents of religious violence — a higher rate than the annual average of 204 such attacks over the last four years. About 80 percent of these attacks took place on Java, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim, and targeted Christians, Shia Muslims, Bahai, and the Ahmadiyah, who consider themselves Muslim but whom many Muslims consider heretics.

As Obama said, religious freedom is protected under the nation’s Constitution. But as freedom of expression in Indonesia has grown since the fall of Suharto in 1998, so has intolerance and violence. Instead of protecting minorities, the government has promoted and enforced discrimination.

The Ahmadiyah mosque I visited last week in the Jakarta suburb of Bekasi is facing increasing pressure to close. The imam told me: “We’ve been here for 22 years. We have never faced these problems before. We are a part of this community.” The imam showed me threatening SMS messages warning him of violence if the mosque doesn’t close.

Indonesia’s national Ahmadiyah association, Jemaat Ahmadiyah, estimates that at least 30 Ahmadiyah mosques have been closed in recent years. In 2008 the national government passed a decree that prohibits the Ahmadiyah from practicing their faith. So far 16 provinces and regencies have followed suit, issuing local decrees banning the Ahmadiyah.

On Oct. 13, the mayor of Bekasi issued a decree banning all “Ahmadiyah activities” in the city. The exact meaning of “activities” is unclear, but every Friday since then the local Muslim clerical council, police and the military have gone to the community center to urge the Ahmadiyah to stop their religious services.

Attacks against the Ahmadiyah have gotten increasingly violent because perpetrators know sectarian violence is not seriously prosecuted in Indonesia. In a deadly attack in February, a 1,500-strong mob of Islamist militants beat three Ahmadiyah men to death and seriously injured five others in the village of Cikeusik, Banten. Although the brutal violence was captured on film, only 12 of the attackers were tried and they received prison sentences of just three to six months. The prosecutors claimed the Ahmadiyah provoked the attack and sentenced one victim who nearly lost an arm to six months in prison for assault and disobeying police orders.

The Ahmadiyah are not the only victims. This year, militants have burned down Christian churches in Temanggung, Central Java, and a suicide bomber targeted a church in Solo, killing himself and wounding 14 churchgoers. Churches in Riau were burned down in August and now, perhaps in retaliation, a mosque in predominantly Christian West Timor is facing similar pressure to close.

The upsurge in religious violence and the lack of state protection is akin to what happened in Pakistan, where the Ahmadiyah faced systematic and legalized persecution. This played into the hands of the Taliban and other militant sectarian groups. Now fewer and fewer voices in Pakistan are willing to speak up for religious minorities because they themselves wind up targets of deadly attacks.

Given Obama’s words on religious tolerance during his last visit, ignoring the growing religious violence now would show he is out of touch with reality in Indonesia. The United States has an interest in a stable, democratic Indonesia, and that demands a country that respects religious freedom. Urging Yudhoyono to speak out against religious intolerance and to seek a repeal of laws that inflame sectarian violence and discrimination should be at the top of Obama’s agenda.

Elaine Pearson is deputy director of the Asia Division at Human Rights Watch.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/the-thinker-open-or-closed/479189

Human Rights Watch Calls on Obama to Tackle Indonesian Abuses

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Human Rights Watch Calls on Obama to Tackle Indonesian Abuses

November 16, 2011

Armed soldiers patroling the Nusa Dua beach front area on Indonesia’s holiday island of Bali on Wednesday. The 16 leaders and heads of state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and East Asia Summit participants are gathering in Nusa Dua’s convention and resort enclave for this week’s annual meeting where world leaders from US, Russia, China, India and Japan will be attending. (AFP Photo)

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged United States President Barack Obama to tackle Indonesia’s leaders during his visit this week on issues including outbreaks of mob violence against religious minorities.

The New York-based watchdog said that despite warming ties with Indonesia, Obama should be forthright when he meets President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during this week’s East Asia Summit held on the resort island of Bali.

Local and international human rights groups have expressed outrage over light sentences handed out to members of a religious lynch mob who killed three members of the Ahmadiyah minority sect in February.

The same court on Java island in August jailed one of the Ahmadiyah survivors of the attack, a man who almost lost his hand in the violence, for six months for defending himself and his friends.

“The Obama administration’s deepening relationship with Indonesia means being frank about Indonesia’s serious human rights challenges,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“Indonesian government indifference to mob violence against religious groups and brutality by soldiers against peaceful protesters are good places to start,” she said in a statement.

Pearson called on Obama to push Yudhoyono to end discriminatory laws and protect religious minorities in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

“Obama needs to temper his past praise of religious tolerance in Indonesia with some tough talk on religious freedom,” she added.

Indonesia’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion but rights groups say violence against minorities including Christians and the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect has escalated since 2008.

In February, a 1,500-strong mob of Muslims set two churches alight and ransacked a third in the town of Temanggung, on Java island, as they demanded that a Christian man be sentenced to death for insulting Islam.

More than 80 percent of Indonesia’s estimated 240 million people are Muslim. Five percent are Protestants and three percent Catholic.

Human Rights Watch said Obama must address “the lack of accountability of security forces for continuing abuses” as well as the 90 prisoners in the restive provinces of Papua and Maluku jailed for peaceful political activity.

“Obama should point out that as long as soldiers who commit torture get a few months in jail while peaceful activists get sentenced for years, Papuans are unlikely to have faith in Indonesian rule,” Pearson said.

Jakarta has faced a low-level insurgency in Papua ever since its 1969 takeover of the vast, mineral-rich territory which borders Papua New Guinea and has its own ethnically distinct population.

Washington and Jakarta have reinforced ties in recent years, signing new trade agreements and strengthening military and anti-terror cooperation.

Agence France-Presse

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/...indonesian-abuses/478849

Hard-Line Group Lashes Out At Bekasi Ahmadis

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Hard-Line Group Lashes Out At Bekasi Ahmadis

Ulma Haryanto | November 15, 2011

More than 30 people claiming to be from the notorious Islamic Defenders Front besieged an Ahmadiyah mosque in the Jatibening area of Bekasi on Monday, demanding it be sealed off.

Local Ahmadiyah leader Rahmat Rahmadijaya told the Jakarta Globe that the group tried to place a placard in front of the mosque to make clear that Ahmadis were not allowed to worship.

“It happened around 2 p.m., about 30 people entered the mosque. They wanted to hang up a placard stating that Ahmadiyah is banned, based on the Joint Ministerial Decree, a West Java gubernatorial decree and a decree by the Bekasi mayor,” Rahmat said, referring to the activists.

Human rights groups have blamed the 2008 joint ministerial decree for increasing violence against followers of the minority Muslim sect.

The Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy said the number of attacks rose from three in 2006 to 50 in 2010.

Earlier this year, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan issued a decree banning the sect from spreading its beliefs through any media and forbidding the display of its name in public, including signposts on mosques. A similar decree was signed by Bekasi’s acting mayor, Rahmat Effendi, and went into effect last month.

The Ahmadiyah mosque had faced weekly threats from the local Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) branch and had to hold its Friday prayers under protection from Bekasi Police. There are around 200 Ahmadis in the area.

Bekasi Police Chief Sr. Comr. Priyo Widyanto denied there had been a siege.

“It is a lie. The truth is that the Bekasi municipality was only trying to hang a placard in front of their mosque, banning Ahmadiyah,” Priyo said, adding that the event was also witnessed by officials from the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), the Inter-Religious Communication Forum (FKUB) and the FPI.

The police chief of Pondok Gede district, Sr. Comr. Burhanuddin, said police were aware of hard-line Muslim groups’ opposition to the presence of Ahmadis and had “secured” the area.

Firdaus Mubarik, a spokesman for the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI), said the Bekasi anti-Ahmadiyah decree could be used by hard-line groups to legitimize their harassment.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/...bekasi-ahmadis/478494

Indonesia sends ‘chilling message’ in mob trial: HRW

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Indonesia sends ‘chilling message’ in mob trial: HRW

July 28, 2011AFP

Two days after a Muslim lynch mob killed members of a minority Islamic sect two churches have been set alight. — AFP Photo

SERANG: An Indonesian court on Thursday sentenced religious fanatics who killed three members of a minority Muslim sect in a frenzied mob attack to between three and six months in jail.

Dani bin Misra, a 17-year-old who smashed a victim’s skull with a stone, received three months for manslaughter.

Idris bin Mahdani, who led the mob of more than 1,000 Muslims in the February attack, was convicted of illegal possession of a machete and received five months and 15 days in jail.

Twelve people stood trial but none faced murder charges in what human rights activists said was a travesty of justice in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.

The unprovoked violence against the Ahmadiyah sect members in Cikeusik, western Java, was one of the most horrific in a long line of attacks on the minority group in Indonesia in recent years.

A secretly filmed video of the attack brought religious violence in Indonesia under the international spotlight, and provoked condemnation from the United States, Italy and international rights groups.

“When the Cikeusik video went viral, people around the world were shocked and appalled by the savagery of the mob kicking and slashing three men to death,” Human Rights Watch Deputy Director for Asia Phil Robertson said.

“But instead of charging the defendants with murder and other serious crimes, prosecutors came up with an almost laughable list of ‘slap-on-the wrist’ charges.

“The Cikeusik trial sends the chilling message that attacks on minorities like the Ahmadiyah will be treated lightly by the legal system. This is a sad day for justice in Indonesia.”

©2010 DAWN Media Group. All rights reserved
URL: www.dawn.com/2011/07/28/indonesia-sends...hrw.html

Police coercing members to quit faith, sect claims

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Police coercing members to quit faith, sect claims

Tom Allard HERALD CORRESPONDENT
March 19, 2011

JAKARTA: Members of the Ahmadiyah religious sect have been pressured by Indonesian security personnel to abandon the faith amid continual harassment of them, sect leaders say.

The military and government ministers have defended their actions, saying there has been no intimidation, only efforts to protect Ahmadis from violence.

Ahmadis have come under increasing attacks in the past 18 months, culminating in the killing of three adherents by a mob of hundreds of Islamists in Banten province last month.

Advertisement: Story continues below The government denounced the violence and 12 people have been arrested.

But since the incident, several provincial governments have introduced edicts banning Ahmadiyah, while the Minister for Religious Affairs, Suryadharma Ali, has continued his campaign for the group to be outlawed entirely.

Ata ur-Rahman, an Ahmadiyah preacher from Cirebon, in west Java, said 12 Ahmadis in his area had been summoned in recent days by the military or district chief to sign a petition disavowing their faith.

“So far only five have signed it and left Ahmadiyah,” Mr Ata said.

Others had been visited at their homes, he said. More than 50 such approaches had been documented in West Java.

“The military guys told them, ‘This is for the sake of security … We don’t want things that occurred in other places happening here too … Therefore, we ask you to join mainstream Islam. Don’t follow a false sect,”‘ Mr Ata said.

Ahmadis follow the Koran and observe most Islamic traditions but they believe that a late 19th-century Indian religious figure, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the messiah foreshadowed in the Hadith.

The belief angers some orthodox Muslims, who view any deviance from the tenet that Mohammed was the final prophet as deeply offensive.

There are more than 200,000 Ahmadis in Indonesia, where the faith was introduced in the 1920s. However, since a presidential decree was issued in 2008, Ahmadiyah adherents are forbidden from proselytising and must observe their religion in private.

The deadly attack in February was captured on video and the shocking footage went viral online. A censored version was shown widely on Indonesian and international television.

It prompted much soul-searching about Indonesia’s commitment to its constitutional right to freedom of religion.

However, incidents of harassment have continued unabated. In West Java, there have been attacks on the homes of Ahmadis, prompting police to question followers of the sect. The perpetrators of the attacks were not arrested.

The local military commander in West Java reportedly demanded the replacement of an Ahmadi cleric at a mosque in Bandung with a preacher from the conservative Indonesian Ulemas Council.

In East Java, Ahmadis were told this month to remove the signs outside their mosque.

In South Sumatra, Ahmadis were ordered to cancel a celebration of the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday, said Basuki Ahmad, a preacher from Palembang.

“We are only allowed to hold small gatherings inside our mosques now,” Mr Basuki said.

Five provinces and six regencies have banned the sect since the killings in Banten.

“These decrees place officials on the side of militants who increasingly have been carrying out attacks on Ahmadiyah,” said Phil Robertson, of Human Rights Watch.

But the Minister for Justice and Human Rights, Patrialis Akbar, said there had been no violations by the military or police because they were trying to foster communication between Ahmadis and aggrieved Muslim groups.

The Defence Minister, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, said: “There’s no negative element, there’s no coercion whatsoever.”

© 2011 AAP | Copyright © 2011 Fairfax Media
URL: www.smh.com.au/world/police-coercing-...1c0dt.html

Indonesia must commit to freedom of religion

Indonesia must commit to freedom of religion

23 February 2011

Amnesty International has urged the Indonesian government to repeat its commitment to protecting the right to freedom of religion in the face of calls from radical groups to outlaw a religious minority community.

Several hundred members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and other groups staged a demonstration in the capital Jakarta on 18 February calling on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to disband the Ahmadiyya group. A second protest is planned outside the Presidential Palace for 1 March 2011.

“The Indonesian government must state, clearly and publicly, that it will protect the rights of all Indonesian citizens, regardless of their religion – and that includes the rights of the Ahmadiyya community,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director.

“The President should denounce public statements inciting violence against the Ahmadiyya and take steps to ensure that all religious minorities are protected and allowed to practise their faith free from fear, intimidation and persecution.”

Three members of the Ahmadiyya were killed on the island of Java on 6 February 2011 when more than 1,000 people wielding rocks, machetes, swords and spears stormed the house of an Ahmadiyya leader in the sub-district of Cikeusik, Banten province.

An interview with FPI Chairman Habib Rizieq Syihab was posted on the group’s website on 18 February in which he reportedly stated: “… if today, just three infidel Ahmadis were murdered, possibly tomorrow or the next day there will be thousands of Ahmadi infidels who will be slaughtered by Muslims.”

The Ahmadiyya are a religious group who consider themselves to be a part of Islam. Many mainstream Muslim groups say they do not adhere to the accepted belief system.

Amnesty International has documented numerous cases of intimidation and violence against the Ahmadiyya community by radical Islamist groups in various parts of Indonesia.

“We welcome the efforts to investigate the violence that led to the death of three Ahmadiyya followers in Cikeusik, but it’s essential that the Indonesian government demonstrate that it will seriously investigate and address all attacks on religious minorities,” said Sam Zarifi.

Amnesty International has also called for the repeal of laws and regulations that restrict the right to freedom of religion that have fuelled harassment and attacks against the Ahmadiyya community.

A joint ministerial decree was issued in 2008 forbidding the Ahmadiyya from promoting their activities.

Most recently a local regulation was issued on 20 February 2011 in the Pandeglang district where the attacks occurred, forbidding Ahmadiyya activities.

The right to freedom of religion in Indonesia is guaranteed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Indonesia is state party, as well as the Indonesian Constitution.

URL: www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/indonesia...02-23

Islamic hardliners plan Jakarta march

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Islamic hardliners plan Jakarta march

February 20, 2011 - 1:29PM

AAP

Hardline Islamists are planning a second mass rally in the Indonesian capital as they continue to threaten to oust President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono unless he outlaws a minority Muslim sect.

The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), linked to recent deadly acts of religious violence in Indonesia, has called for a revolution like that seen in Egypt and claims thousands of its members and supporters will march on the State Palace next month.

On Friday, several hundred members of the group carried banners as they protested in central Jakarta calling for Dr Yudhoyono to disband Ahmadiyah, a minority Muslim sect, shouting that they wanted an “Islamic revolution”.

Advertisement: Story continues below Members of FPI have been linked to the murder of three Ahmadiyah during a violent rampage involving 1500 people in west Java’s Banten province two weeks ago, which prompted the president to call for extremist groups to be brought into line and for greater religious tolerance in Indonesia.

A second mass protest is now planned for March 1, when FPI members are expected to camp outside the State Palace with one member of the group, Misbakhul Hanan, telling the Jakarta Globe newspaper that if their demands are not met, “the revolution that happened in Egypt will happen in Indonesia too”.

The comments came as FPI chairman Habib Haziq used his Friday sermon to say he would not rest, no matter what the risks, until Ahmadiyah was eliminated.

“In the name of Allah, I swear that until the last drop of my blood, whatever the risks, Ahmadiyah must not exist in Indonesia,” he reportedly said.

Human rights organisations have voiced concerns about a recent upswing in religious violence in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, after mobs also ransacked a court and burnt Christian churches in Temanggung in central Java, just days after the attack on Ahmadiyah worshippers.

The riot in Temanggung came after a Christian man was sentenced to the maximum five years in jail for insulting Islam, disappointing the crowd which demanded the court hand him over so that he could be executed.

© 2011 AAP | Copyright © 2011 Fairfax Media
URL: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/islamic...1b0rg.html

FPI Vows to Disband Ahmadiyah ‘Whatever It Takes’

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FPI Vows to Disband Ahmadiyah ‘Whatever It Takes’

Rahmat & Markus Junianto Sihaloho | February 18, 2011

Makassar. The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) is threatening to disband Ahmadiyah, regardless of the risks, if the government does not take action against the Islamic sect.

Speaking in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Friday, FPI leader Habib Riziq said that Ahmadiyah was deviant and “must be disbanded.”

“On that basis, the government must know which one is freedom of religion and which one is desecration [of religion]. In the name of Allah, I swear that until the last drop of my blood, whatever the risks, Ahmadiyah must not exist in Indonesia,” Riziq said while giving a sermon before Friday prayers at the Al Markaz Al Islam mosque.

Riziq said he was not afraid of anyone who supported or defended Ahmadiyah, be it the police, the military, nongovernmental organizations, ministers or the government.

“We are not afraid of them,” he claimed.

Riziq said Ahmadiyah was a form of desecration of Islam and the government had to know the difference.

Ahmadiyah, he said, did not admit that Muhammad was the last prophet. That alone was enough reason to disband the sect and guide its followers to return to Islam, he said.

“If fake money is destroyed, if fake policemen are arrested, why shouldn’t we destroy fake religion?” he said, adding that Islam accepted plurality but not pluralism.

“Ahmadiyah copied Islam and changed its teachings. Don’t forget that no matter how similar, Ahmadiyah is not Islam just like apes and men are similar but do not push the similarities too far,” he said.

Lawmakers said the FPI’s actions were an outrageous abuse of the principle of freedom of expression.

Democratic Party Secretary General Ramadhan Pohan said the government recognized freedom of expression and political freedom as mandated by the Constitution.

“But the principle has been excessively used by FPI, which tends to abuse it,” he said.

He called for security agencies to defend the president, stressing they should not left the FPI injure the president’s dignity.

National Mandate Party (PAN) official Teguh Juwarno said the FPI’s claim that it would oust the president was unacceptable.

“It’s true that the president has many weaknesses, but ousting him is not a solution,” he said.

He said a culture of violence was flourishing because the government had failed to ensure fair enforcement of the law.

Most people believed the government only strictly enforced the law when it dealt with the weak and poor.

It had sparked beliefs in many people’s minds that they must seek there own justice together in numbers, Teguh said.

“That’s what happened with the FPI. So we need firmness from the government to stand up for law enforcement. So, the people know what can or cannot be donet, including with FPI and Ahmadiyah matters,” Teguh said.

Priyo Budi Santoso, a senior official from the Golkar Party, said any threat against the president breached the Constitution.

Such threats were a threat to democracy at the same time, he said.

“If we followed such threats, then the political cost and the social cost are too expensive for us. We don’t agree with it,” Priyo said.

But a senior official from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Andreas Pareira, said the government should not take the FPI’s threat seriously.

Rather than taking excessive actions against it, Andreas said it was better for the government to ensure security agencies carried out their responsibilities fairly and firmly.

“FPI is not that big to get so much attention. Just do the legal enforcement,” Andreas said.

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/fpi...takes/423477

FPI Threatens to Oust SBY if He Doesn’t Disband Ahmadiyah

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FPI Threatens to Oust SBY if He Doesn’t Disband Ahmadiyah

February 18, 2011

Hundreds of people from the Islamic Community Forum or FUI, rallying for the disbandment of Ahmadiyah sect at Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in May 2009. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)

About 500 people at an anti-Ahmadiyah rally led by the Islamic Defenders’ Front (FPI) at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Friday demanded the government disband the controversial sect, or else they will attempt to oust the president.

FPI clerics at the rally called on Indonesian Muslims to join their ranks against the Ahmadis.

“Ahmadiyah teachings say that non-Ahmadis must be killed, so they must be eliminated first,” Mishabhul Anam from FPI told the crowd.

Another orator accused the Ahmadis of being the cause of riots. “Therefore, to stop the riots they must be disbanded,” he said.

Awid Mashuri, the deputy secretary general of FPI, said there was no other option but for the government to disband Ahmadiyah.

A man sells books titled ‘Mengapa Saya Keluar dari Ahmadiyah’ (‘Why I Left Ahmadiyah’) during FPI rally in Jakarta on Friday. (Beritasatu Photo/Ulin Yusron)

“There is no other choice,” he said. “Government officials, most of whom are Muslim, must stand for us instead of for the Ahmadiyah. There is already a joint ministerial decree on the Ahmadiyah, the president only needs to turn it into a presidential decree.”

The protesters called President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono “banci,” which literally translates to transvestite, saying he was a coward for not disbanding Ahmadiyah.

Therefore, Awid said if the government does not disband the sect right away, they will force the president to step down.

“Ahmadiyah is a Western representation in Indonesia, which is our enemy,” Awid said.

Little boy sells “Suara Islam” (“Islamic Voice”) tabloid during the FPI rally at Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Friday. (Beritasatu Photo/Ulin Yusron)

He also accused the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) of “violating Islam” for protecting the Ahmadiyah.

The Islamic People’s Forum (FUI) leader, Muhammad Al Khaththat, said he demanded the government to take a number of actions.

“The first and foremost is SBY (Yudhoyono) must issue a decree to disband Ahmadiyah and arrest Abdul Basith, the leader of Ahmadiyah followers in Indonesia,” he said.

The rally was also seen as opportunity by some people to make money by selling books and tabloids related to Ahmadiyah.

A man was seen carrying a stack of books titled “Why I Left Ahmadiyah,” and it was sold for Rp 65,000 a piece.

A boy was also seen selling the “Suara Islam (“Islamic Voice”) tabloid, featuring FPI leader Habib Rizieq on the front page and the quote “Disband Ahmadiyah or SBY Steps Down.” The price of the tabloid is Rp 6,000 a piece but most people who bought it paid Rp 10,000.

“Keep the change, it’s my donation,” they said.

The rally is ongoing.

With reports from Beritasatu

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/fpi...ahmadiyah/423448

FPI Not to Blame for Bloodshed In Banten: Lawyer

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FPI Not to Blame for Bloodshed In Banten: Lawyer

Farouk Arnaz, Fitri & Antara | February 17, 2011

A police officer stand guards at the damaged house of a member of Ahmadiyah after it was mob-attacked in Pandeglang, Banten province, Indonesia, Monday, Feb. 7, 2011. (AP Photo)

The lawyer for two alleged assailants in a bloody attack against the Ahmadiyah in Banten that claimed three lives said on Wednesday that the crime should not be pinned on the Islamic Defenders Front.

Mahendratta, from the Muslim Lawyers Team (TPM), said the violence in Pandeglang district on Feb. 6, was backed by a group of clerics in no way affiliated with the hard-line group, also known as the FPI.

“All the suspects [in the attack] were under a group calling itself the Cikeusik Muslim Movement,” he said.

Lawyers from TPM, formed in 1999 to help Muslims with legal issues, have represented FPI members in previous cases.

Mahendratta’s clients — identified as cleric M. and his follower S. — were part of the Cikeusik movement and had turned themselves in to Banten Police earlier on Wednesday.

Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar, spokesman for the National Police, said the surrender brought the number of detained suspects in the case to six.

Other suspects in custody were identified as Ujang, E., K., and M.N. — all clerics from in and around Cikeusik subdistrict.

They were charged with criminal incitement for allegedly leading a 1,500-strong mob in Umbulan village against the Ahmadiyah, a sect deemed deviant by many Muslims for its divergent view on Islamic prophets.

In the wake of religious attacks, Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi held a dialogue on Wednesday with groups considered hostile to the Ahmadiyah, including the FPI.

Gamawan said the ministry proposed four options at the meeting to resolve the rift between hard-liners and Ahmadis.

The first option requires the Ahmadiyah to disassociate itself from Islam, while the second calls for the sect to abandon any practices deviating from mainstream Islamic teachings.

The third option allows Ahmadis to continue practicing their faith as usual, while the last is disbanding the sect.

“We understand that no matter what option we choose, not everyone will be happy about it,” Gamawan said. “So that’s why we’re holding a series of dialogues to discuss the options.”

After the meeting, FPI chairman Habib Riziq said he favored disbanding the sect or converting its members to orthodox Islam.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/fpi...lawyer/423084

Ahmadi Killings Put Focus on Tiny Village

NEWS

Ahmadi Killings Put Focus on Tiny Village

Nivell Rayda | February 09, 2011

Just last week, hardly anyone had ever heard of Umbulan village in the Cikeusik subdistrict of Pandeglang — except for a few firebrand clerics. But after the bloody attack here against members of the Ahmadiyah sect on Sunday, which saw three people killed and five others badly injured, the nation has been fixated on news from the village. (Antara Photo)

Pandeglang, Banten. Just last week, hardly anyone had ever heard of Umbulan village in the Cikeusik subdistrict of Pandeglang – except for a few firebrand clerics. But after the bloody attack here against members of the Ahmadiyah sect on Sunday, which saw three people killed and five others badly injured, the nation has been fixated on news from the village.

‘Halal Blood’

Zulkifli, a 21-year-old resident of nearby Malingping town, said he first heard of the little-known village during the anniversary of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) last August.

“The anniversary was celebrated here [in Malingping]. FPI paraded through the city and staged a mass sermon,” he said, pointing to a nearby field.

Zulkifli recounted seeing public officials and senior police officers among the crowd, numbering around 1,000.

“It is halal for the blood of an Ahmadi to be spilled,” he quoted a local cleric named Madzuri, who led the sermon, as saying. “I have received instructions from our leader, Habib Rizieq. Ahmadiyah must be driven out of Banten,” the cleric added.

His words were met with thunderous applause, Zulkifli said. The cleric was referring to FPI leader Rizieq Shihab, who was sentenced for leading an attack against a religious tolerance group in 2008.

The Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI), however, was cautious in pointing fingers. “We don’t know if any organization was involved in the attack. We do know that the attackers were well organized.” JAI spokesman Firdaus Mubarik said.

Atep Suratep, an Ahmadiyah member from Umbulan, said similar calls for violence against the sect were reportedly heard during mass sermons in Cibaliung and Menes, also in Banten.

“Even our subdistrict chief [Abdjah] promised the FPI that he would get the Ahmadiyah out of his village shortly after he was inaugurated two years ago,” Atep said.

Proselytizing Claims

Mainstream Muslim groups accuse Ahmadiyah members of heresy, saying that they profess their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, to be the final prophet of Islam — a tenet that runs directly against Islamic beliefs that reserve that claim for Muhammad.

The accusation is disputed by the Ahmadiyah community, but this claim is largely behind the 2008 joint ministerial decree banning Ahmadiyah members from spreading its faith.

Atep said the Umbulan Ahmadis were once summoned to the district chief’s office where they were accused of violating the ministerial decree.

“We have been following every article in the decree. We did not actively spread our faith. All we did is pray with other Ahmadis, nothing more,” he said.

Ahmadiyah roots in the village date back to 1994, when Ismail Suparman became the first and only Ahmadi in Umbulan. Five years later he ventured out of the village in pursuit of his religion and returned in 2009.

“Since his return, there have been many villagers that converted to Ahmadiyah. This is worrying for the Islamic community in Cikeusik. We have tried to dissuade Suparman from proselytizing his faith but he remained headstrong,” Cikeusik chief Abdjah told reporters.

“Suparman’s reluctance to stop his activities is what caused the mob’s outrage.”

But Atep denied this. “Of course when Suparman joined Ahmadiyah, a lot of his childhood friends became curious and asked him. He explained the Ahmadiyah beliefs to them and they grew interested,” he said.

Still, the growth to 25 Ahmadiyah followers in the little village appeared to have been taken as a threat. On Sunday, MUI [Indonesian Council of Ulama] Banten chief Wahaf Afif said the attack could have been prevented if the Ahmadiyah groups practicing in the province had been disbanded earlier.

Wahaf said his group had sent a letter to the Banten High Prosecutor’s Office four months ago requesting that all Ahmadiyah congregations in the province be disbanded. “But they [Ahmadis] are still around and now this incident occurred,” he said. “Their presence is not only felt in Cikeusik but in so many parts of Banten. We had anticipated the anxiety felt by residents, which is why we sent that letter. We regret that the prosecutor’s office did not follow our request.”

Local Acceptance

Atep said, though, that while they practice their faith in secrecy, they had been living peacefully with the rest of the villagers. “Ordinary people are nice to us. They accept us for who we are,” he said.

One of them is 45-year-old Dedi Setiadi, a mainstream Muslim resident of Umbulan, who said he didn’t recognize members of the mob that arrived on Sunday.

“I don’t know where they’re from. The villagers here would never commit such a heinous act. In fact, some of us hid the victims at our homes to keep them safe,” he said.

Although ostracized by relatives, 66-year-old Agus Jayadi and his wife Warsinah, both mainstream Muslims, said they loved their two sons Atep and Rafiudin, who joined Ahmadiyah in 2009.

“My son brought his Koran and my husband compared it with ours — they’re the same. The way we pray is the same. We worship the same God and follow the teachings of the same prophet,” Warsinah said.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/ahmadi...village/421543

Indonesian Media Flaws Fuel Interreligious Conflict, Experts Say

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Indonesian Media Flaws Fuel Interreligious Conflict, Experts Say

Ulma Haryanto | February 03, 2010

Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) protesting in front of the Ahmadiyah secretariat in Makassar. (Antara Photo)

The Indonesian media must learn from the mistakes made in covering the bloody sectarian conflict in Ambon as it seeks to report on the disturbing increase in similar interreligious violence breaking out across the country, experts say.

Eni Mulia, executive director of the Association for National Media Development (PPMN), told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday that most of the media coverage of these disputes touched only on the violence itself, without putting into context why it erupted or how it could be resolved.

“Religious conflicts happen almost every day or at least every other day, yet no newsroom in this country has the capacity or resources to facilitate open discussion of this topic, while some chose to avoid it altogether,” she said at a training seminar.

“So we feel it would be right to train journalists on how to act or face conflicts to find a peaceful resolution in covering religious conflicts.”

Eriyanto, a researcher from the Indonesian Survey Circle and one of the guest speakers at the seminar, elaborated on the role of the mass media in covering the bloody sectarian conflicts in Sampit, East Kalimantan, and Ambon, Maluku.

Reports of fatalities from the Ambon conflict, which ran from 1999 to 2006, vary from 4,000 to as much as 10,000, while an estimated 860,000 people were displaced.

“When regions in Ambon were segregated into Muslim and Christian areas, the media became a tool for propaganda,” Eriyanto said.

He added this role was filled by fundamentalist media outlets such as the Voice of Maluku Muslim Crusaders, a radio station backed by the Laskar Jihad.

The latter, who have since been disbanded, were a Java-based militant Islamic group that fueled the Ambon strife by recruiting and sending a constant stream of fighters to the conflict zone.

Eriyanto said his research showed that 80 percent of reporters who filed stories on that conflict were not always writing from the scene, but were basing their reports mostly on witness accounts that were subjective, one-sided and often simply hearsay.

“At a time when it was dangerous, even life-threatening, to go to the other religion’s area, these journalists, who were obviously unprepared for covering a religious conflict, could only rely on their limited sources,” he said.

“False or unverified news only made the situation worse, while reporters became emotionally involved and could only report from their own areas.”

Ambon today remains relatively sensitive to religious strife and its Muslim and Christian communities continue to live in segregation, as confirmed by two Ambon reporters taking part in the seminar: Firman Attamimi from the Ekspresi Ambon daily and Harry Radjabaycolle, a contributor for Jakarta-based TVOne .

“This is why I joined the seminar,” Firman said.

“I think that of all the provinces in Indonesia, Ambon is one of the most conflict-prone areas and that’s also why peace journalism has become important, because it teaches reporters how to stay balanced in covering these kinds of incidents.”

The seminar, held from Jan. 24 to 28, drew journalists from across the country. Among those invited to speak were Ihsan Ali Fauzi from Paramadina University and Burhanuddin Muhtadi, an analyst with the Indonesian Survey Institute.

Others served as mentors for participants, including Tempo editor Jajang Jamaludin, Media Indonesia deputy director for daily news Usman Kansong and Ade Wahyudi, from radio station KBR68H.

Former Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) director Asfinawati spoke on the legal framework for religious freedom, while Ahmadiyah’s Zafrullah Ahmad Pontoh, Indonesian Churches Union (PGI) member Gomar Gultom, and Dewi Manti, representing the animist Sunda Wiwitan, sect, spoke about the challenges facing their respective religions.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesian...say/420624

Raging FPI Mob Disrupts Annual Ahmadiyah Prayers in Makassar

NEWS

Raging FPI Mob Disrupts Annual Ahmadiyah Prayers in Makassar

Rahmat | January 29, 2010

Makassar. Dozens of protesters from the Islamic Defenders Front surrounded an Ahmadiyah center in Makassar on Friday, demanding that the sect disband.

Clad in white, members of hard-line group, also known as the FPI, arrived on motorcycles and tried to storm the center where around 50 Ahmadis were holding an annual prayer gathering called Jalzah Salanah.

More than 50 armed officers from the Mamajang Police and Makassar Police prevented the demonstrators from entering the center.

The FPI, however, continued to chant and yell threats at the panicked Ahmadiyah members, who hid inside a mosque in the center on Jalan Antang and locked the gates.

“We give you 24 hours to disband and bring down that sign that reads Jamaah Ahmadiyah,” Habib Reza, leader of the FPI in South Sulawesi, shouted during Friday’s rally.

“If you don’t do this, we will come back on Saturday and forcibly tear it down,” he added.

Habib cited a 2005 edict issued by the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) and a 2008 state decree that deemed the Ahmadiyah a deviant Islamic sect and restricted its religious activities.

Mainstream Muslims reject the Ahmadis’ belief that sect founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the last prophet, which runs counter to Islamic tenets reserving that distinction for the Prophet Muhammad. [**]

“All of you are atheists! Come back to Islam,” Habib said, as the crowd chanted “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great.”

“If you refuse to disband yourselves, you are welcome to enter any other religion. Do not use the name of Islam,” Habib said.

Police officers later attempted to ease tensions by offering to mediate between FPI and Ahmadiyah leaders.

However, Habib said he would only speak to the head of the South Sulawesi Ahmadiyah community if he agreed to “immediately disband” the sect that day.

After the protest, the hard-liners dispersed at around 6:30 p.m. and promised to return to the Ahmadiyah center the next day.

But after evening prayers, the protesters flocked to the site again and held speeches for another 20 minutes.

According to Ismail Hasani, from the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, there were about 50 recorded cases of violence or intimidation against the Ahmadiyah last year.

The statement is erroneous. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian did not make any such claim of being last prophet. Please visit Alislam.org/messiah for further info.

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Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/raging-fpi-mob...makassar/419684

Tasikmalaya Mayor Claims Ahmadiyah Orphanage Locked at Public’s Request

Jakarta

Tasikmalaya Mayor Claims Ahmadiyah Orphanage Locked at Public’s Request

JG & Antara | December 28, 2010

The Khasanah Kautsar orphanage in Tasikmalaya, West Java, was sealed off by the government on Dec. 18. Tasikmalaya Mayor Syarif Hidayat said the lock-up was at the public's request. (JG Photo/Nivell Rayda)

Jakarta. The municipal government of Tasikmalaya, West Java, is reluctant to reopen an Ahmadiyah orphanage that has been kept shut for weeks by law enforcement.

“We will keep it under lock and key because it is the public’s request,” Syarif Hidayat, the mayor of Tasikmalaya, told state news agency Antara.

The Khasanah Kautsar Orphanage, which is operated by the minority Ahmadiyah community in Kawalu subdistrict in Tasikmalaya, West Java, was locked up, with the children and staff still inside, by the subdistrict police chief and prosecutor on Dec. 18.

Officials argued that the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) would otherwise have come to close it down.

Mayor Syarif said the decision attempted to maintain peace and order because the Tasikmalaya public resented the activities of the Ahmadiyah congregation.

“It depends on them [the congregation] whether they acknowledge Ahmadiyah as an organization or as a religion. If they say it’s a religion, of course the public will disagree,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tasikmalaya’s Ahmadiyah leader, Ion Sofyan, said the lock-up had made it difficult for them to do daily activities because they had to climb a three-meter wall every day for school or supplies.

On Monday, 12 rights groups called on the government to reopen the orphanage as it was a violation of the children’s rights.

Seto Mulyadi, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak), said children should not be dragged into adult conflicts.

“The locking up of the children inside the orphanage has taken away the right of the children to have a comfortable place to live, to get an education and also to have the freedom of religion or belief,” he said.

Seto said he would meet with the head of the FPI, Rizieq Shihab, and the leader of the FPI’s Tasikmalaya chapter to find a solution that will spare the children.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/tasikmalaya-...-request/413930

Deputy Governor Calls on Indonesian Council of Ulema to Help End Religious Strife

JAKARTA

Deputy Governor Calls on Indonesian Council of Ulema to Help End Religious Strife

Dofa Fasila | December 18, 2010

Jakarta. Jakarta Deputy Governor Prijanto said the time had come for the country’s highest authority on Islamic affairs to play a bigger role in leading Jakarta’s communities and ending simmering religious tensions.

Prijanto said the Indonesian Council of Ulema’s (MUI) leadership was needed to stop Jakartans from being provoked or incited to resorting to religious violence and vigilantism.

“I request the MUI boost their role among Jakarta communities and function to strengthen ukhuwah Islamiyah [Islamic brotherhood] and akhlakul karimah [good behavior]. These two traits are primary in leading lives in the midst of pluralism,” he said at an MUI meeting on Friday.

“I ask [the MUI] to please create programs for our people so that they will avoid anarchic behavior. It is our wish that the people should bring themselves closer to the teachings of Islam and apply them in their lives on a daily basis.”

In 2005, the MUI issued a fatwa, or edict, calling the teachings of the Ahmadiyah, an Islamic minority sect, blasphemous.

Since then a string of violent acts and discrimination against members of the group have gone largely unpunished. Members of the MUI were also among those, including the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), who conducted a raid against a transsexual beauty pageant this month in Makassar.

Jakarta’s MUI chief, Munzir Tamam, stressed during Friday’s meeting that his group would not accept teachings that could cause Muslims to stray from their faith.

“However even as [deviations from true Islamic teachings] cannot be tolerated, anarchic actions are not the way to resolve problems. We should get those who stray to understand the teachings of Islam better.”

The statements come less than a month after a noted human rights organization said Greater Jakarta was becoming increasingly intolerant and fundamentalist, according to a survey of 1,200 residents.

“Based on the survey that we conducted, we can say many people are intolerant and one step away from becoming fundamentalists,” Ismail Hasani, a researcher at the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said late last month.

Ismail said intolerance was rampant when it concerned family members converting to other religions or having houses of worship of other faiths in the neighborhood.

Levels of discrimination were also high against religions other than the six recognized by the Indonesian state (Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism).

The survey also showed that 45.4 percent of respondents wanted the government to disband the Ahmadiyah while 20.7 percent said the Islamic sect’s activities should be restricted.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/jakarta/deputy-governor-...-religious-strife/412370

Intolerance Stretches to Indonesia’s Children

NEWS

Intolerance Stretches to Indonesia’s Children

Nivell Rayda | December 09, 2010

The Khasanah Kautsar orphanage in Tasikmalaya, West Java, has been sealed off by the government. (JG Photo/Nivell Rayda)

Tasikmalaya, West Java. Amar Ahmad, 15, was supposed to be taking his end of term exams on Thursday morning.

Instead, he and nine other boys spent the day trapped inside their orphanage, which was forcefully closed the day before.

The Khasanah Kautsar orphanage, built by a local Ahmadiyah community, was locked from the outside by officials from the Tasikmalaya prosecutor’s office on Wednesday, amid growing pressure from hard-line Muslim groups for the facility to disband.

It remained locked on Thursday.

Syihab Ahmad, a teacher at the orphanage, which doubles as a religious school, told the Jakarta Globe inside the locked facility that the school only gave instruction in the teachings of the sect’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

The boys normally pursue their formal education elsewhere, but with the closure, they are unable to do that.

“We are not allowed to leave this orphanage. I also fear for the boys’ safety at their schools,” Syihab said.

“When the situation cools down, I will try to lobby the schools. Hopefully they can still take the final exams.”

The teacher said at least five officials from the prosecutor’s office came to the orphanage, situated in the outskirts of Tasikmalaya city, at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, saying that the facility was due for closure.

“I asked [the officials] for the supporting documents. They couldn’t show them to me. I then asked them what we were doing wrong and they only said, ‘Either we close it or the FPI will close it,’?” he said, referring to the hard-line Islamic Defenders’ Front.

The prosecutors eventually locked the gate with their own lock.

Amar recounted that after the officials had left, at least 30 people visited the orphanage.

“They shouted, ‘Get out you infidels,’ and some of them yelled, ‘Burn… burn… burn,’?” he said. “It was intense. We all feared for our lives.”

After rallying for one hour, the protestors disbanded under a sudden rain while police officers guarding the facility watched.

Kawalu Police told the Globe on Wednesday that a demonstration by several hard-line Islamic groups, including the FPI and the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis), was to take place there on Thursday.

No FPI demonstrations were visible on Thursday when the Globe visited the orphanage.

Mainstream Muslim groups accuse Ahmadiyah of professing its founder, Mirza, as a prophet, which runs directly against a tenet of Islam identifying Muhammad as the final prophet. The Ahmadiyah argue that Mirza was merely a reformer of Islam.

Budi Badrussalam, chairman of the Tasikmalaya Ahmadiyah Youth Alliance, said members of the sect constantly receive intimidations which are rarely prosecuted by law enforcement in the district.

As recently as June this year, people have thrown rocks and bottles at the orphanage. “The odd thing is, the people that had been intimidating us are not even from around this area,” Budi told the Globe.

The orphanage was founded in 2000 with the donation of private members from the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation. In 2004, the facility received an influx of orphans after an Ahmadiyah community in West Nusa Tenggara was burned.

“At one point there were as many as 48 boys living in the orphanage. But after a string of attacks on the facility… now there are only 10,” Iyon Sofyan, an Ahmadiyah community elder in Tasikmalaya, told the Globe.

“We won’t leave this place. If we go out, then the mob would definitely burn it to the ground. Where would the kids go?”

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/intolerance-stretches-to...children/410894

Tasikmalaya Police Lock Ahmadiyah Congregation Inside Orphanage

NEWS

Tasikmalaya Police Lock Ahmadiyah Congregation Inside Orphanage

Ulma Haryanto | December 09, 2010

Anti-riot police walking in front of a burning home belonging to an Ahmadiyah follower in Ciampea, West Java, in October. Fifteen members of the sect, including ten children are currently sheltering in an orphanage in Tasikmalaya, also in West Java, after the district prosecutor’s office and local police officially closed it. The group fear an imminent attack by the Islamic Defenders Front. (Reuters Photo)

Jakarta. The Tasikmalaya district prosecutor’s office, with the help of local police, on Wednesday officially closed down an Ahmadiyah orphanage in Kawalu subdistrict in Tasikmalaya, West Java.

Doni Sutriana, a local leader of the Ahmadiyah , told the Jakarta Globe that at around 10 a.m. sect leaders were asked to meet with the local government as well as other Islamic groups, where they were told to shut two of their buildings.

Kawalu Police said that a demonstration by several hard-line Islamic groups, including the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis), was to be held there on Thursday, but declined to say whether the closure was related to the planned demonstration.

Syihab Ahmad, 23, a member of the Ahmadiyah congregation that remains trapped in the orphanage told the Jakarta Globe about their ongoing ordeal.

JG: What happened?

Syihab Ahmad: We were summoned by the district attorney for a meeting in the morning and he told us that Ahmadiyah conducted activities in the orphanage so it must be shut down. We told them that the only thing we did was pray, that’s all.

JG: Did they listen?

SA: No, people from the District Attorney’s Office came to the orphanage with the Tasikmalaya Police’s head of intelligence around 3 p.m. and locked the gate. They asked everyone to leave the orphanage and not to provoke the Islamic Defenders Front but the children refused to leave.

JG: How many people are inside?

SA: Around 15 people, ten children, one woman and four men.

JG: So you stayed inside?

SA: Yes and they [the District Attorney’s Office delegation and the Tasikmalaya Police’s chief of intelligence] left but shortly, around 30 members FPI came and shouted, “Burn!” They banged on the gate trying to get in but the rain fell and they eventually left.”

Syihab and the 14 others currently remain locked inside the orphanage, saying they could not leave because the building was still locked.

He said they still had enough food but that was the least of their concerns. “I’m scared that the worse could still happen,” he said.

A Jakarta Globe reporter is expected to arrive at the scene this afternoon.

Read the full story HERE.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/tasikmalaya-police-...-inside-orphanage/410757

Editorial: Our Next Police Chief Must Restore Order

EDITORIAL

Editorial: Our Next Police Chief Must Restore Order

October 06, 2010

The sole candidate to take the helm of the National Police, Comr. Gen. Timur Pradopo, has a tough job ahead if he is appointed to the post. He must restore public trust in the police, maintain law and order and inject some discipline on Jakarta’s often chaotic roads.

Timur, until earlier this week the capital’s chief of police, has strongly suggested that he would uphold the law at any cost.

This is a welcome statement given the rising public concern over thuggery and the use of violence by certain organizations to force their views on others.

His commitment to the law will be closely scrutinized, especially given his supposed links to the radical Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

Pradopo told the media that he intended to include all segments of society, including the hard-line Islamic group, in efforts to maintain security. But he also added that he would not hesitate to act if any group violated the laws of the land.

Involving local communities to provide security in neighborhoods across Jakarta is nothing new.

Local neighborhood watch groups were established in the wake of the 1998 riots to be on the lookout for outsiders or strangers who might be bent on mischief.

While most of these watch groups have disbanded, many communities still police their own neighborhoods.

Such civic groups may play an important role in maintaining security but they cannot not replace the police, which not only have to provide security but also maintain law and order.

This is where the next commander of the National Police will have to devote a substantial amount of his time and energy given the breakdown of order in the capital city in recent months, including a deadly brawl between street gangs outside a courthouse last week.

There can be no excuse for the police to allow militant groups to continue to run roughshod over minorities.

Acts of violence such as attacks on Christians in Bekasi and the burning of an Ahmadiyah mosque must not be tolerated.

Individuals cannot be allowed to take the law into their own hands, under any circumstance.

We cannot, as a civilized and law abiding society sanction paramilitary organizations to operate on behalf of the police.

If named to lead the police, Timur must provide better training for officers and strive toward building a professional and highly motivated force.

Following the separation of the police from the military a decade ago, the police have made great strides in improving professionalism and providing better public service.

This must continue, along with rooting out the widespread corruption that dishonors the badge.

The recent raids and arrest of terrorists are a shining example of excellent police work. The longer-term goal, however, must be to serve the public in the best manner possible.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/editorial-our-next-p...store-order/400026

Proposed New Indonesian Police Chief Defends ‘Closeness’ to Islamic Defenders Front

INDONESIA

Proposed New Indonesian Police Chief Defends ‘Closeness’ to Islamic Defenders Front

Anita Rachman | October 06, 2010

Indonesia’s controversial proposed new National Police chief Comr. Gen. Timur Pradopo, pictured, says the police should be close to all groups, including Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), to maintain security. (Antara Photo)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s proposed new National Police chief Comr. Gen. Timur Pradopo has defended his links to the radical Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

Responding to questions from reporters at the House of Representatives (DPR) on Wednesday, the former Jakarta Police chief said “we should be close to all” groups, including the FPI.

The militant organization, which comprises a small but vocal group of radicals, often resorts to violence to further its conservative aims, including ransacking bars and attacking peaceful demonstrators. Allegations also persist that the group is closely linked to Indonesian security forces.

“We should be close to all [groups] to maintain security in this country,” Timur said.

The comments could provoke controversy, with many secular Indonesian Muslims opposed to the FPI’s antisecular views and ongoing criticisms against the police for failing to act against the hard-line group.

Timur met with five House leaders, including House Speaker Marzuki Alie, at 9 a.m.

Deputy House Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso told the press they wanted to discuss a number of items, including the fit-and-proper test that is expected to be held on Monday.

“We wanted an explanation, including what people at large have been talking about, that there are internal divisions within National Police, which he said there aren’t,” Priyo said. “This is a kind of warning from us: Don’t let the factions within the Police grow.”

Priyo was referring to allegations that police had split into camps supporting National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri’s two initial recommendations to the president, namely Comr. Gen. Nanan Soekarna, the police’s Internal Affairs head, and Comr. Gen. Imam Sudjarwo, the chief of the police’s Training and Education Division.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s surprise nomination of Timur, according to some speculation, was an attempt to head off divisions with National Police over the appointment.

Priyo said the House leaders also told Timur that he should continue to reform the police, which continues to be perceived as resistant to reform, with allegations of high-level corruption, human rights abuses and a lack of professionalism persisting.

Human rights activists on Tuesday urged the House to reject Timur’s nomination, saying he had a questionable track record, including his refusal to answer three summonses from the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas Ham) to clarify his involvement in the shooting of students in the Semanggi area of Jakarta in November 1998, when he was still active as chief of Central Jakarta Police.

Priyo said they did not specifically ask Timur about the Semanggi incidents but would do so.

“Our message to him, if he finally sits in the top position in the National Police, is if he wants to be successful he should never get tempted by politics, political practices,” Priyo said.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/proposed-new-i...fenders-front/399873