Yudhoyono plays down ‘fairy tale’ coup threat

HEADLINES Thu, 03/24/2011 2:44 AM

Yudhoyono plays down ‘fairy tale’ coup threat

The Jakarta Post

The government is shrugging off reports that retired generals are using Islamic hard-line groups to overthrow President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said the threats came from only a handful of groups in the large, democratic country.

“We see no serious threat indicating it as treason,” Julian told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Su-yanto said the government was not troubled by the report.

“Who [does the report] annoy? I’m certainly not bothered,” he said, adding that there was no need to overreact in response to the issue.

In a recent report, Al Jazeera said “senior retired generals” have been secretly supporting hard-line groups to incite religious violence in an effort to overthrow Yudhoyono.

In the report, retired Army chief Gen. Tyasno Sudarto, a staunch government critic, talked about his support for groups that he said aimed to topple Yudhoyono in a “revolution”.

Tyasno’s name is listed as security minister in a proposed Cabinet line-up for an Islamic government. The line-up, posted online, was co-drafted by Muhammad Al Khaththath, secretary-general of the Islamic People’s Forum (FUI).

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro refused to acknowledge Al Jazeera’s report on the generals. “No, there’s no such thing. And such a thing may not happen in Indonesia,” he said, “We have tools that allow us to monitor developments in the field.”

One legislator dismissed the notion that retired generals had the ability to topple the government as a tall tale. “In this day and age, news stories saying retired officers conduct coups are fairy tales,” Lt. Gen. (ret.) Salim Mengga, a lawmaker on Commission I overseeing defense, foreign affairs and information, said at the House of Representatives as quoted by tribunnews.com.

In her report, Al Jazeera correspondent Step Vassen quoted Chep Hernawan, leader of the Islam Reform Movement, as saying the generals had attempted to fuel backlash against the president by bringing up certain issues including corruption and the Ahmadiyah conflict.

Chep claimed on Wednesday that he would amass millions of Muslims on May 20 in a protest aimed at toppling the President. “We now have the Ahmadiyah issue, which has turned out to be well-responded to by all Muslims. We can use this to overthrow [Yudhoyono],” he said.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved
URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/03/24/yudhoyono...

Ahmadiyah skips ‘biased, unfair’ govt-initiated dialogue

NATIONAL Wed, 03/23/2011 11:34 PM

Ahmadiyah skips ‘biased, unfair’ govt-initiated dialogue

Ina Parlina and Rizal Harahap, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Pekanbaru

Representatives of the Ahmadiyah congregation skipped a government-initiated dialogue with officials on Tuesday, a closed-door meeting they said was aimed at discrediting their beliefs.

The Religious Affairs Ministry held a “dialogue and opinion sharing” forum on Tuesday, attended by human rights groups such as the Wahid Instiute and Setara Institute, and anti-Ahmadiyah groups such as the Islamic People’s Forum (FUI) and the Islam Defenders Front (FPI).

“It is regrettable that they decided not to attend. This can be seen as a sign that they do not want to find a solution,” Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said, adding that the ministry invited all parties to find a comprehensive solution to the Ahmadiyah issue.

Ministry secretary-general Bahrul Hayat said the Ahmadis should not have skipped the meeting, as the government was prepared to listen, not to preach.

The Ahmadis were invited to attend the afternoon session, as the morning session was to hear opinions from mass organizations such the FUI and the FPI.

Erna Ratnaningsih, of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), which represents Ahmadiyah congregations from across the country, said her clients insisted on refusing a “biased dialogue” with ministry officials, saying they feared their faith would be judged.

“Even though members of civil society groups were there, the Ahmadis feared they would be cornered, as happened in a 2007 dialogue. Many of the people participating in the dialog are in favor of those who want Ahmadiyah to be disbanded,” she told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

In 2007, the government held a dialogue with Ahmadis and came out with seven options, including to ban it or to declare it a new religion, separate from Islam. The Ahmadis opted to be seen as part of Islam.

However, the ministry found that Ahmadis still held religious teachings deemed heretical by mainstream Muslims. The government later enacted a 2008 joint ministerial decree prohibiting the group from propagating its teachings.

Erna asserted that Ahmadiyah would not be represented at the four-day meeting. She said the invitation received by Ahmadiyah leaders only invited them to attend one session on Tuesday. “How could it be fair? We want to be involved fairly in the dialogue,” she said.

“We want a neutral mediator and participants. [The current] composition, regardless of NGOs, would only bring the matter into the perspective of religion,” she said. “What we want is a dialogue about Ahmadiyah congregations’ constitutional rights as citizens. Don’t judge them on their faith.”

Rumadi Ahmad from the Wahid Institute said his team explained at the discussion that both banning Ahmadiyah and declaring it a different religion from Islam were not the best solutions, as they would only lead to future conflict.

“I’d say that intimidation against them would likely still occur if the government imposed those two options,” he said.

Fajar Riza Ul Haq from the Maarif Institute said his team pushed the discussion to perceive the Ahmadiyah matter as more of a human rights issue, “because they were intimidated just for worshiping. Some even were attacked.”

Both activists said it was better to have an independent mediator apart from the ministry.

Meanwhile, in Pekanbaru, Riau province, authorities claimed success in supervising Ahmadis after 35 Ahmadiyah followers renounced Ahmadiyah for mainstream Islamic teachings.

The Religious Affairs Ministry’s Pekanbaru municipal office head Tarmizi Tohor said the detachment was the result of a few months of counseling and a supervising process involving a number of Islamic preachers.

“They realized their wrongdoing and have religiously sworn [not to revert] on their own will without being forced to do so,” Tarmizi said on Tuesday. “And no forceful element was involved in the process.”

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved
URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/03/23/ahmadiyah-skips...

Organizations demand govt disband Ahmadiyah in S. Sulawesi

NATIONAL Tue, 03/01/2011 7:21 AM

Organizations demand govt disband Ahmadiyah in S. Sulawesi

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar

The South Sulawesi Islamic People’s Forum (FUI), comprised of 18 Muslim organizations, rallied Tuesday demanding that the local government issue a regulation disbanding Ahmadiyah in the area.

They rallied in front of the Regional House of Representatives building.

South Sulawesi FUI secretary Siradjuddin said Ahmadiyah had been declared heretical in 1974 by the Indonesian Ulema Council and that stance was further strengthened by the joint decree prohibiting the spread of Ahmadiyah’s teachings.

“But in reality Ahmadiyah is still in existence. That is clearly a violation and an abjection toward Islam,” he said.

The police ordered the Jamaah Ahmadiyah mosque emptied and stood guard at the mosque and the secretarial building.

“Ahmadiyah activities will be shut down until the situation is safe,” South Sulawesi Police chief Insp. Gen. Johny Wainal Usman said.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved
URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/03/01/organizations...sulawesi.html

Perspectives of Major Media Outlets Reflect Country’s Pluralism, Study Says

---Jakarta Globe, Indonesia

June 25, 2009

Ismira Lutfia

Perspectives of Major Media Outlets Reflect Country’s Pluralism, Study Says

Despite a study showing that five national publications had strikingly different perspectives when it came to reporting on Ahmadiyah and the antipornography bill, the general feeling is that the country’s media is a healthy example of the how the press works in a pluralistic society.

“It’s inevitable that the media would project differing perspective as they were formed in a pluralistic society,” journalist Aristides Katoppo said on Thursday.

“No media exists whose participants are homogenous.”

A team of five researchers from the Habibie Center, who presented their findings during the launch of a book, “Pluralism Issues in Media Perspective,” chose the controversial Ahmadiyah Muslim community and anti- pornography bill as representations of pluralism in the country because they sparked polar opposite views, which the media itself contributed in shaping.

The study analyzed how weekly news magazines Gatra and Tempo, and dailies Kompas, Media Indonesia and Republika framed the two issues by their choice of sources and words in their reports.

“These five media outlets are aspects of the plurality in our society,” Sumarno, one of the researchers, said in his presentation, adding that the media members had different views in framing the news and presenting the facts.

He said Kompas, Media Indonesia and Tempo tended to quote news sources that were against the antipornography bill and supported Ahmadiyah’s existence, while Republika took the opposing stance but with a similar approach. Gatra displayed a more impartial view on both issues.

Sumarno said that the main message conveyed by Kompas, Media Indonesia and Tempo was that to deny Ahmadiyah its right to exist violated the Constitution and was an abuse of human rights, while passing the antipornography bill would limit freedom of expression and discriminate against women.

“Republika viewed Ahmadiyah as blasphemous and therefore pushed the government to take a stand against it,” said Afdal Makkuraga Putra, a fellow researcher, adding that the paper saw the antipornography bill as an attempt to protect women.

“Their choice of words reflected the news perspective that they represented,” Afdal said.

A. Makmur Makka, communications director at the Habibie Center, said that as an organization, each media establishment had its own distinctive characteristics, which were shaped by its audience and by its management.

“This is reflected in its editorial policies, so it is acceptable to be partial as long as the news report is written in good conscience,” Makmur said, adding that what was presented in a news report was a result of agreements between various interests in the newsroom.

“We can’t really label media outlets as pluralist or non-pluralist based on their perspectives on two issues,” he said.

Copyright 2009 The Jakarta Globe
URL: http://thejakartaglobe.com/ne...ys-pluralism-study-says/314490

Hard-Liners Seek Out Pair Willing to Ban Ahmadiyah

---Jakarta Globe, Indonesia

June 02, 2009

Muninggar Sri SaraswatiHard-Liners Seek Out Pair Willing to Ban Ahmadiyah

Hundreds of protesters from several hard-line Islamic groups rallied on Monday, and declared support for presidential candidates who would support Shariah law and formally ban the Ahmadiyah religious movement.

“We reject presidential tickets who do not support Muslims and instead support the United States,” said Chep Hermawan, who led the rally outside the Presidential Palace complex in Central Jakarta, without mentioning any specific ticket.

The rally was held on the anniversary of the Indonesian Defender Front (FPI) attack on a peaceful demonstration organized by the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion at Monas in Central Jakarta last year.

The protest was marked by 70 Ahmadiyah followers renouncing their beliefs and pledging to become mainstream Muslims.

The protesters were mainly drawn from members of the hard-line FPI and Islamic People’s Forum (FUI) from around Jakarta.

FPI Secretary General Sobri Lubis said there was no reason for them to vote for presidential candidates who could not promise that they would ban Ahmadiyah, an Islamic sect declared as heretical by the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) in 2005.

“We demand that Ahmadiyah be banned through a formal presidential decree instead of merely a joint ministerial decree,” he said. “We will vote for a candidate who can guarantee that.”

The high-profile attack on the Monas demonstration drew widespread condemnation and resulted in FPI chairman Habib Rizieq being sentenced to 18 months in prison. But rather than seize popular support and take action against FPI, the government simply issued a joint ministerial decree ordering Ahmadiyah restrict its religious activities.

FPI and FUI are known for their fundamentalist views of Islamic teachings, and have been labeled as thugs with little real influence. FPI has been involved in a number of raids on night clubs and bars that sell alcohol, and has also used violence to threaten and intimidate minority groups, such as the destruction of mosques and houses belonging to Ahmadiyah followers.

Sobri said that the 70 former Ahmadiyah followers wished to revert to the true faith.

“We did not force them to exercise Islamic teaching. We will accompany them to go back to the right path,” he said, explaining that they practiced Ahmadiyah teachings without really understanding what they followed.

One of the converts, Etik, 40, from Tejowaringin in Tasikmalaya, West Java, said they returned to Islam “because of our conscience; not because of the FPI.”

Ahmadiyah spokesman Mubarik said it was up to the individuals concerned whether they wanted to change their beliefs as Ahmadiyah did not want to force anybody to follow them if they no longer wished to — just as the Ahmadiyah followers did not want to be forced to change their beliefs.

Copyright 2009 The Jakarta Globe
URL: http://thejakartaglobe.com/ne...air-willing-to-ban-ahmadiyah/278651