Study Finds Rising Intolerance Among Indonesian Muslims

INDONESIA

Study Finds Rising Intolerance Among Indonesian Muslims

September 30, 2010

Indonesian worshipers at the Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta. A new survey by the Center for the Study of Islam and Society has found “a worrying increase” in religious intolerance among Muslims in 2010 compared to 2001. (Antara Photo)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s Muslim majority has become less tolerant over the past decade and the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is turning a blind eye to the problem, a survey has found.

The new survey by the Center for the Study of Islam and Society found “a worrying increase” in religious intolerance among Muslims in 2010 compared to 2001.

Centre chief Jajat Burhanudin said on Wednesday that certain ministers in Yudhoyono’s cabinet actively encouraged intolerance, while the police too often failed to protect minority groups.

“If this continues, the process of democracy in this country will be disrupted as people will justify their acts in the name of Islam,” he said.

Of 1,200 adult Muslim men and women surveyed nationwide, 57.8 percent said they were against the construction of churches and other non-Muslim places of worship, the highest rate the study centre has recorded since 2001.

More than a quarter, or 27.6 percent, said they minded if non-Muslims taught their children, up from 21.4 percent in 2008.

Burhanudin said the results were good news for radical groups in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.

“Religious intolerance can encourage people them to become radicals, join terrorist networks or at least support the agenda of fundamentalists who commit violence in the name of religion,” he said.

Indonesia’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion and the country of some 240 million people, 80 percent of whom are Muslim, has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

But it has a festering problem with homegrown, Al Qaeda-inspired terror groups, as well as stick-wielding vigilantes that constantly agitate, often violently, for Shariah or Islamic law.

In the latest serious incident, extremists allegedly stabbed a church elder and bashed a female priest outside Jakarta earlier this month.

Thousands of members of the minority Islamic Ahmadiya sect have lived in constant fear of attack since a 2008 ministerial decree limited their religious freedoms.

Burhanudin said ex-general Yudhoyono, who invited Islamic parties into his governing coalition, “doesn’t dare” to crack down on Muslim extremists.

“There is no systematic or serious effort to reduce the strength of Islamism and intolerance,” he said.

Agence France-Presse

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/study-finds-ri...g-indonesian-muslims/398875

Questions for religious affairs minister

READERS FORUM Tue, 09/28/2010 11:05 AM

Letter: Questions for religious affairs minister

Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said the Jamaah Ahmadiyah faith — who claim to be Muslim — had to be broken up, as these followers violated regulations and were not Muslim (the Post, Aug. 31).

Suryadharma Ali and his group apparently see themselves to be “true” Muslims and Ahmadis not.

Now, my questions are:

• Can any definition of a Muslim be found in the Holy Koran, or was any such definition applied by the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) without exception during his lifetime? If there does exist such a definition then what is it?

• Can it be considered legitimate for anyone to propose any definition, in any era, which is in disregard of such a definition found in the Holy Koran, or by the Holy Prophet, a definition that can be shown to have been applied in the lifetime of the Holy Prophet?

• Is it to be considered legitimate to declare someone to be outside the pale of Islam, notwithstanding one’s belie8f in the Five Pillars of Islam, just because one’s interpretation of a few verses of the Holy Koran is unacceptable to some Muslim divines of certain sects?

The Ahmadis believe in the Five Pillars of Islam, Six Pillars of Faith including the Holy Koran as their Holy Book. Their “problem” is that their interpretation of the verse khataman nabiyyin is unacceptable to some Muslims.

The Holy Koran says “[Allah] named you Muslims both before and in this Book,” (Chapter 22: 78)

The words “He named you Muslims before” mean that this name was prophesized a long time ago before Prophet Muhammad. Muslim and Islam as proper names were given from God to the Holy Prophet Muhammad so this name belongs to Allah and He has the patent.

The Holy Prophet Muhammad said “One who observes the same prayer as we do, faces the same direction [in prayer] as we do, and partakes from the animal slaughtered by us, then such a one is a Muslim concerning whom there is a covenant of Allah and His Messenger; so you must not seek to hoodwink Allah in the matter of this Covenant.” from Bukhari, Kitabus-Salat, Baab Fazl Istiqbal il-Qibla.

Can Mr. Suryadharma surpass the authority of defining what is “Islam” and “Muslim” that are defined by God in the Holy Koran and Prophet Muhammad? Do you think the Prophet Muhammad’s definition of Muslim has expired?

The history of religious persecution, as told by the Koran, clearly shows that followers of true religion or true faith did not begin to persecute religious minority groups but they were victims of violence as minority groups.

The Koran gives the example of Noah, Hud, Abraham, Saleh, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and others, who called the people to God by using love, sympathy and humility.

Dildaar Ahmad
Indonesian Muslim Ahmadi
Bogor, West java

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/09/28/let...fairs-minister.html

Rising Bigotry Makes Extremism Easier: Survey

INDONESIA

Rising Bigotry Makes Extremism Easier: Survey

Ulma Haryanto | September 23, 2010

Jakarta. The recent forcible shuttering of churches and Ahmadiyah mosques, as well as the recent attack on two protestant church leaders, do not come as a surprise to two key organizations that track intolerance in the country.

Both the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) and Lazuardi Birru, an independent organization focused on combating extremism, have said religious prejudice was on the rise here, leading to a higher potential for people to become radial in their views

Clear signals of religious intolerance among Indonesians came out of a national survey the groups carried out earlier this year, according to Lazuardi Birru chairwoman Dhyah Madya Ruth.

Dhyah said on Wednesday that the nationwide survey was conducted across all 33 provinces from March 26 to April 6, and involved 1,320 randomly selected respondents, the majority of whom were Muslims.

She said the survey results were compiled into a “radicalization vulnerability index” to show how vulnerable Indonesian Muslims were to being radicalized, and the highest factor contributing to the vulnerability was intolerance.

“Our survey revealed that dislikes against certain religious groups also influenced their actions and views,” Dhyah told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday.

As many as 63.8 percent of the survey’s respondents would object if other religious groups built houses of worship in their neighborhoods, while 51.6 percent objected if groups from other religions held a religious event in their area.

Meanwhile, 47.8 percent would have no objection if somebody outside Islam became a state official, and 32.4 percent would object.

The numbers differed slightly for those simply active in political parties – 51.3 percent said they had no objection while 25.6 percent objected .

“From this result, if the expectations [of state leaders] are that Indonesian Muslims are already tolerant enough to the groups that they dislike, including Christians, then they are clearly out of touch,” Dhyah said.

The survey showed that 1.3 percent of the respondents had once attacked houses of worship of other faiths, and that 5.3 percent would do the same if they had the chance.

“Intolerance against groups that the respondents disliked increased their involvement in radical actions or support for radical actions,” Dhyah explained.

The survey was launched as part of an effort by the organization to understand how vulnerable Indonesian Muslims were towards radicalization efforts.

“We are concerned about the level of radicalism in this country,” Dhyah said. Lazuardi Birru had been using the data as its reference in creating programs to deter radicalization in youths.

Separately, Bonar Tigor Naipospos, deputy chairman of the Setara Institute, said that mobile puritan and relatively intolerant groups were spreading their influence at the grass-roots level.

“It could be the FPI [Islamic Defenders Front], and could take other names,” he said.

Bonar said it was impossible that the government was unaware of the survey’s conclusions, because in every religion there were always hard-line views.

“It’s just a matter of how the state could protect the citizens from such views…. The reluctance of government to take a stand had a lot to do with religion being a sensitive issue,” he said.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/risin...s-extremism-easier-survey/397625

Editorial: Religious Freedom Needs the Rule of Law

OPINION

Editorial: Religious Freedom Needs the Rule of Law

September 21, 2010

We emphatically support efforts by both the government and the legislature to formulate a law that would guarantee religious harmony. The issue desperately deserves attention, because the joint ministerial decree has been found by many to be fundamentally flawed and wholly unable to provide a strong foundation for pluralism in the country. (Antara Photo/Yudhi Mahatma)

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The right to worship freely is clearly enshrined in our Constitution. But to our nation’s chagrin, this guarantee may only exist in theory, and not yet in practice. As the recent spate of violence against religious minorities — such as Christian congregations and the Ahmadiyah sect — has shown, the pluralism that our nation’s founding fathers wisely envisioned has yet to materialize.

In a country as wide and as diverse as ours, ignoring pluralism would mean eliminating the very ties that have been able to bind us together as a nation for so long. It is the recognition of this plurality, and the need for all Indonesians to mutually respect each other’s differences, that has been able to make this nation so strong.

But the latest incidents, including the assault on members of the Batak Christian Protestant Church in Bekasi, have not only sullied the tolerance this nation is known for, but also threaten to endanger our national unity and cohesion.

Many people have blamed these problems on the 2006 joint ministerial decree on the building of houses of worship, issued by the attorney general and the ministers of home affairs and religious affairs.

They say it encourages official discrimination against religious minorities and provides justification for the violence increasingly being directed against these minorities.

That is why recent statements from Djoko Suyanto, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, have come as such a breath of fresh air.

Djoko initially said the joint ministerial decree could always be reviewed and amended, and on Tuesday he supported calls for a law on religious harmony to replace the decree.

Even more welcome was the decision reached on Tuesday by the House of Representatives and the government to immediately start drafting a law on religious harmony.

Although the House remains divided over whether the law should use the controversial joint ministerial decree as its starting point, the willingness to address the problem and try to overcome it is laudable.

We emphatically support efforts by both the government and the legislature to formulate a law that would guarantee religious harmony.

The issue desperately deserves attention, because the joint ministerial decree has been found by many to be fundamentally flawed and wholly unable to provide a strong foundation for pluralism in the country.

It is not our intention to try and influence or interfere with the work of the government and the House.

But we think it is important for us to remind them that to uphold the Constitution, the laws that protect the rights of religious minorities and provide a secure environment for them must be honored.

The new law must go further than the current ones to protect the religious rights of all members of Indonesia’s ever-changing society.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/editorial-religious...e-of-law/397403

Minister for Religion Says No to Calls to Revise Decree

Jakarta

Minister for Religion Says No to Calls to Revise Decree

Camelia Pasandaran & Eras Poke | September 20, 2010

Jakarta. The minister of religious affairs on Monday said there were no plans to revise the joint Ministerial Decree on Houses of Worship despite a chorus of criticism from rights activists and lawmakers against the regulation.

Suryadharma Ali dismissed calls to amend the decree, which have been mounting since an attack on two leaders of a congregation from the Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKBP) Pondok Timur Indah in Bekasi on Sept. 12, in which one church elder was stabbed.

Tensions have been raised in Bekasi for the past few months with some hard-line Muslim groups opposing the building of a church in the Pondok Timur Indah area because it lacks the proper permits.

“This regulation is needed to maintain harmony,” Suryadharma said. “If this regulation didn’t exist, people would be free to do whatever they wanted.”

The decree, issued by both the ministries of religious affairs and home affairs, requires the approval of at least 60 households in the immediate vicinity of new houses of worship before they are granted permits to build or conduct services.

Suryadharma said securing the approval of 60 households was not too much to ask for.

“In the past, the requirement included securing approvals from up to 300 to 400 households. So if every household in that lot included at least three people, that would mean 1,200 approvals. This is just 60 households,” he said.

The decree, however, has been slammed by rights groups for making it nearly impossible for minority faiths to build houses of worship in Muslim-majority areas.

In recent months, the regulation has been cited to justify a spate of attacks against Christians in the Greater Jakarta area by hard-line Muslim groups who say the congregations have no permits to hold religious services.

Some state officials, however, have expressed support for revising the decree.

Constitutional Court Chief Mahfud MD has said he backs revising — but not abolishing — the regulation, arguing it should adapt to changing social conditions.

“A law should be attuned to the times and consider the changes and developments that take place in the society,” he said.

Several lawmakers have also said the decree should be revised, and have even supported calls to draft a new law to support religious harmony.

In addition to securing the approval of 60 households, the decree also states that new houses of worship need recommendations from the local offices of the Religious Affairs Ministry and Interreligious Communication Forum (FKUB).

But Hendardi, who chairs the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, has accused the FKUB of regularly “filtering out” permit applications instead of protecting the rights of religious groups.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people from the East Nusa Tenggara People’s Solidarity and Transparency Forum (Somasi) rallied outside the provincial council building in Kupang to protest against the attacks on the HKBP in Bekasi and the ban on its members from worshiping in a vacant lot.

The demonstrators, who included officials from the provincial branch of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), also protested against recent attacks on members of Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect, which Suryadharma has repeatedly called for a ban on, claiming that its followers had “violated regulations” and were “not Muslims.”

Speaking with the East Nusa Tenggara Council speaker, Agustinus Medah, Somasi said the attacks against the HKBP and Ahmadiyah were evidence the state was failing to protect the constitutional right to worship.

“The president should have acted firmly,” said Winston Rondo, a representative of Somasi. “He should do so now and protect his people from violence. He is instead more interested in raising his public image.”

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/minister-for-religion-says...ise-decree/397179

Disbanding Ahmadiyah costs the freedom of the nation

OPINION Fri, 09/17/2010 10:48 AM

Disbanding Ahmadiyah costs the freedom of the nation

Al Makin, Yogyakarta

By the end of Ramadan, Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali promised to bestow a “controversial gift” on Indonesians, a gift that would displease proponents of tolerance, peace and common sense.

That is, after Idul Fitri he will take serious steps to disband Ahmadiyah. The arguments supporting his statement sound obsolete and unfounded. That is, the group violated a 2008 joint ministerial decree and the outdated 1965 anti-blasphemy law. The public knows where these “weak laws” lead us.

As a politician of the United Development Party (PPP) and a former cooperatives and small and medium enterprises minister, Suryadharma Ali’s maneuver is not mindless. Genuine motivations behind his effort should be explained.

However, as he will unlikely explain what has really provoked him to lash out at the religious minority, we can only guess.

Take a political drive as the first clue to this puzzle.

As a politician, he needs popularity to enhance the number of voters for his party. To become the center of the media’s attention is of great benefit to him. He is now popular. As soon as you type his name into Google, his statement about disbanding Ahmadiyah will appear in various online publications.

As a party that targets conservative voters, the PPP, which was established in the early years of Soeharto’s government, faces the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) as a serious competitor in the political race.

However, the PKS is seemingly building its image as an “open political party” that “makes room” for the values of pluralism and nationalism. This party has seemed to have learned the lesson that Indonesians are not fond of leaning too far to the right. PKS leaders want to swing the party to the middle, at least in the eyes of the public.

The gambit sounds tactical. The PKS also deserves credit, for educating conservative stakeholders to accept the fact that the party needs to increase the number of voters, regardless of their beliefs and ideologies. Politics is about the voters, in front of whom your principles should be disguised.

However, the strategy also yields risks. Indonesian voters with nationalist sentiments may look at the PKS’ move with a measure of skepticism, while loyal voters with conservative and radical minds may leave the party, seeing that the party has betrayed their original ideology.

The PPP, which wants to construct itself as an icon of conservatism, has seized on an opportunity. The Ahmadiyah issue has been chosen to attract potential conservative and radical voters.

If this is the case, short-term political gain has won out over long-term national interest.

Iskandar Zulkarnain, a scholar on Ahmadiyah, wrote that the Islamic sect’s contributions to this country and Indonesian Muslims since even before independence, such as translating the Koran into Javanese and other intellectual endeavors, cannot be belittled. Amien Rais also held Ahmadiyah’s achievements in the world, such as promoting intellectual Islam in Europe, in high regard.

What is obvious is that in the soil of Indonesia, Ahmadiyah has stood for much longer than those who want to eradicate it. Ahmadiyah — like NU (Nahdlatul Ulama), Muhammadiyah, the PGI, Kawali, Parisada Hindu Dharma, and other religious groups that have colored the Indonesian canvas with diversity — has contributed to this country much more than those who want to annihilate it.

Ahmadiyah is part of Indonesia. If its members are not allowed to live in this country, which they love as much as we do, where should they go? Should we just throw them into ocean? Or expel them?

There are rows and rows of Indonesian leaders and intellectuals who will side with the “oppressed” Ahmadiyah, as they know that banning Ahmadiyah comes at the cost of the freedom of all Indonesian people.

If Ahmadiyah is disbanded because its teachings are different from Indonesian Shafi’ite Sunni majority, there are more sects and Islamic groups on the list, including Indonesian Hanbalite Sunni, Hanafite Sunni, Shiite, Tarekat groups (e.g. Naqshabandiyah, Satiriyah, Jalaluddin Rumi groups), numerous Islamic local variants, and so on.

Next, if you follow a religion that is different from those the Religious Affairs Ministry officially acknowledges, be ready to be banned. The same warning rings true for those who embrace different faiths.

Simply put, our fate and freedom is now attached to that of Ahmadiyah. To allow Ahmadiyah to be disbanded means to let us follow the same fate. Here, in Indonesia, we persecute our own brother Muslims.

Let us consult to the speech delivered by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at Harvard University, in which he challenged Samuel Huntington’s “clash of civilizations”. Agreed Mr. President! Now a question please. What about clashes among Indonesians?

The writer is a lecturer at the State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/09/17/disbanding-a...dom-nation.html

Lawmaker Rebukes Religious Minister

Jakarta

Lawmaker Rebukes Religious Minister

Armando Siahaan | September 16, 2010

Jakarta. The deputy speaker of the House of Representatives has roundly criticized Religious Minister Suryadharma Ali, joining human rights watchdogs in saying the man in charge of ensuring religious freedom actually did more to inhibit it.

The deputy speaker, Pramono Agung, of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), suggested on Thursday that recent statements by Suryadharma, including his advocacy for banning the Ahmadiyah sect, showed that members of political parties should not be appointed to the position he holds.

Suryadharma is the chairman of the United Development Party (PPP), the second-largest Islamic party in the country.

Pramono said some of Suryadharma’s decisions on religious issues had been heavily influenced by his political background.

“A religious affairs minister should be one who protects all religious groups. Not just his group or his religion,” Pramono said. Suryadharma “is unable to take unbiased action.”

Pramono’s statement comes amid a string of attacks on religious minorities across the country, including against the Ahmadiyah minority Muslim sect and churchgoers of the Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKBP) of Pondok Timur Indah.

Pramono said a religious affairs minister without political affiliations would likely pursue more prudent policies.

“Let’s hope that the current situation will serve as a lesson in the future, for any cabinet,” Pramono said.

Romy Romahurmuzy, the PPP’s House factional secretary, disagreed with Pramono.

“The recommendation is irrelevant. The dynamics of religion would take place regardless of whether or not the minister came from a political party,” Romy said.

He pointed out that the religious affairs minister had always been from a political party in the past.

But many human rights watchdogs took Pramono’s side.

Bonar Tigor Naipospos, the deputy chairman for the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said: “It is very obvious that Suryadharma often uses his position for political interests to gain support.”

The most striking example, he said, was the minister’s statements to the House in late August that “the most suitable choice is to disband Ahmadiyah completely and not let them do their activities.”

Pramono has called for the revision of the 2006 Joint Ministerial Decree on Houses of Worship, which mandates that at least 60 residents of a neighborhood must support a new mosque or church before it can be built there.

“Maybe it is about time the House issues a law protecting religious harmony,” he said. “That is, after all, guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution.”

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/lawmaker-rebukes-religious-minister/396566

‘We Are Ready to Leave This Country’: Displaced Ahmadis Plead for Answers

Jakarta

‘We Are Ready to Leave This Country’: Displaced Ahmadis Plead for Answers

Fitri | September 12, 2010

Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara. Idul Fitri should serve as a reminder never to give up, an imam, Nasiruddin Ahmadi, told his congregation of nearly 200 Ahmadiyah members as he led prayers on Friday at a transit shelter on the island of Lombok.

The shelter in the West Nusa Tenggara capital, Mataram, is home to 22 families who belong to the minority Muslim sect. They have been there since February 2006, when they were evicted from West Lingsar village by the district administration in West Lombok.

Ever since electricity was cut off two years ago and the government stopped providing food aid, the displaced families have had to fend for themselves.

“Even though Ramadan has come and gone, the spirit of Ramadan is always present in our lives,” Nasiruddin said during the sermon on Friday. “If Idul Fitri is the day of triumph, then make sure that triumph is evident in your daily lives.”

While Muslims across the country traveled to their hometowns to celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, the Ahmadis in Mataram marked the holy festival at the transit shelter with a meal that included two donated goats.

Sahiddin, the group’s leader, said the goats were donated by other Ahmadi groups so that they could celebrate Idul Fitri with goat curry and ketupat , rice cakes traditionally associated with the holiday.

“What was most important, however, was that we were able to pay zakat fitrah [alms], as is the duty of every Muslim,” he said.

But Idul Fitri this year was also marked by hardship for Ahmadiyah followers. Last week, Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali reiterated his belief that the group should be banned, claiming that it would be good for both the country and Ahmadiyah followers.

A ban, he said, would protect the group’s members from attack and also help bring them into the fold of mainstream Islam.

Founded in India in 1889, Ahmadiyah holds that the sect’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was a prophet — a belief contested by mainstream Muslims.

Suryadharma said that the government could ban Ahmadiyah by using the 1965 Blasphemy Law and a joint decree, issued in 2008 by the Attorney General’s Office and the ministries of religious affairs and home affairs, that restricts the group’s religious activities.

The 2008 decree stops short of banning the sect, but prohibits Ahmadiyah followers from publicly practicing their faith and from proselytizing. According to Suryadharma, all Ahmadis want to follow mainstream Islam, and therefore “it is the duty of every Islamic figure to take them in, teach them the correct way of the religion.”

The minister also said that until a ban was enacted, Ahmadiyah followers would continue to be targets of violent attacks by hard-line groups. “Why don’t you study the reactions toward Ahmadiyah?” he said. “We believe such harsh reactions are because there are rules that are not being followed.”

Despite the upbeat Idul Fitri celebrations at the shelter, Sahiddin said he was concerned about the minister’s remarks.

“His statements reminded us of the time when we had written to the Mataram mayor, Ruslan, in 2009,” he said, explaining that the group had decided to write to the mayor after spending its fourth year celebrating Idul Fitri in the shelter.

“We begged him to let us go back to our homes in Lingsar subdistrict, West Lombok. He refused us.

“We told him that if he could not give us a stable home to live in — and if we were indeed in violation of the Blasphemy Law — then he should just imprison us, every single one of us, all together. We still hold steadfast to our faith.”

Sahiddin said the group would gladly move to any other country if it was no longer welcome in Indonesia. “We are ready to leave this country and go wherever we are accepted,” he said.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/we-are-ready-to-leav...or-answers/395776

Ahmadiyah Again Faces Minister’s Call for a Ban

Jakarta

Ahmadiyah Again Faces Minister’s Call for a Ban

Camelia Pasandaran | September 08, 2010

Jakarta. Ignoring the outrage of rights activists, the religious affairs minister on Tuesday reiterated his belief that an outright ban on Ahmadiyah would be good for both the country and the sect.

Suryadharma Ali said the government had two options: maintain the restrictions on the group’s activities, or ban Ahmadiyah. A ban, he said, would protect group members from attack and also help bring them into the fold of mainstream Islam.

“The government can let them be or ban them. Both carry risks,” he said. “To let them be is not regulated by our laws, but we can ban them because we have regulations for this.”

The minister, who last week caused an uproar by saying Ahmadiyah should be banned because the group had angered mainstream Muslims, was referring to the 1965 Blasphemy Law and a joint decree issued in 2008 by the religious affairs and home affairs ministries, and the Attorney General’s Office, restricting the group’s religious activities.

The decree stopped short of banning the sect but prohibited Ahmadiyah followers from publicly practicing their faith and from proselytizing.

“Banning Ahmadiyah, in my opinion, is not an act of hatred or enmity, it is an act of love and care for all our brothers across the nation. To ban them is far better than to let them be,” Suryadharma said.

“To outlaw them would mean that we are working hard to stop deviant acts from continuing. It is better for us to take the hard steps now and, God willing, all will be well.”

According to Suryadharma, all Ahmadis want to follow mainstream Islam, and therefore “it is the duty of every Islamic figure to take them in, teach them the correct way of the religion.”

The minister also said that until a ban was enacted, Ahmadiyah followers would continue to be targets for violent attacks by hard-line groups.

“Why don’t you study the reactions toward the Ahmadiyah?” he said. “We believe such harsh reactions are because there are rules that are not being followed.”

Ahmadiyah followers have been the target of numerous attacks by hard-line Muslim groups, with authorities being accused of failing to take steps to protect sect members.

Rights activists have said the minister’s comments could be construed by hard-liners as justification for more attacks on the group. Suryadharma, however, said that, in principle, there should be no violence.

Founded in India in 1889, Ahmadiyah holds that the group’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was a prophet — a belief that goes against mainstream Islam, which holds that Muhammad was the last prophet.

Said Aqil Siradj, chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country’s largest Muslim organization with an estimated 40 million members, last week urged caution against banning Ahmadiyah.

“Ahmadiyah has been in Indonesia since 1925. Why is it being made a problem now?” he said. “This is not a local organization, it is present in 102 countries around the globe.”.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/ahmadiyah-again...ban/395172

No Respite for Lombok’s Ahmadiyah Community

Jakarta

No Respite for Lombok’s Ahmadiyah Community

Fitri | September 05, 2010

Jakarta. After having spent five consecutive Ramadans in a shelter and in light of the renewed comments by officials seeking the disbanding of their sect, Ahmadiyah members in Lombok say they can only resign themselves to whatever the future will bring.

Since having been forced to leave their village, West Lingsar, in West Lombok district, in February 2006, at least 22 Ahmadiyah families have been staying at the Transito shelter in Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara province.

Founded in India in 1889, Ahmadiyah holds that the group’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the last prophet — a belief that contradicts a tenet of Islam that reserves that position for the Prophet Muhammad.

The rooms where the 133 people are staying are only separated by curtains.

To make matters worse, the government has now halted the provision of food aid for the displaced Ahmadiyah members. Electricity supply to the building was cut two years ago.

“If we have to be disbanded, then we can do nothing else except surrender and wait for God’s trial because God’s justice is much better than human trials,” Zulhair, one of the displaced, said on Sunday.

Zulhair was commenting on remarks made by Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali last week. The minister had said that Ahmadiyah should be banned because it had angered mainstream Muslims and if they were allowed to practice their beliefs, conflict would escalate.

A 2008 government decree named Ahmadiyah a deviant sect. Though it stopped short of banning the sect completely, it banned its members from publicly practicing their faith and spreading their beliefs.

Zulhair said that his community has made every possible effort to convince the rest of the country that their teachings are not different from those of mainstream Muslims.

“So, if they still consider us to be deviant, then we’ll just wait for God’s justice.”

Nurhidayati, 30, said that she and the rest of her community will stay faithful to the sect’s teachings, even if that means they will become outcasts.

Nurhidayati’s one-year-old daughter Melati is one of five babies born at the shelter, including a pair of twins named Transiti and Transita.

“The other children were having a very hard time in the beginning at school because they are Ahmadiyah children. For instance, those kids only got a piece of paper as their report while other kids would receive a book,” said Nurhidayati. “But, after a long fight, our kids now finally get the same treatment as other children.”

For Nuratun, a 47-year-old mother of three, life has also been tough. She said that for Idul Fitri, a lavish feast for most Muslims, she could only fry some flour-coated peanuts for her children.

“This is the fifth Idul Fitri in this shelter, the fifth Lebaran we have had to spend in this very sad place,” Nuratun said.

Nuratun and the other Ahmadiyah women sell goods at traditional markets to make a living, but they make just enough money to buy rice for everyday consumption. “

We totally depend on our husbands to pay for the kids’ schools because we no longer receive any help from the government,” she said.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/no-respite-for-lomboks-ahmadiyah-community/394768

Indonesian Clerics Wary of Moves to Ban ‘Deviant Sect’

Jakarta

Indonesian Clerics Wary of Moves to Ban ‘Deviant Sect’

Nurfika Osman & Candra Malik | September 03, 2010

Jakarta. Indonesia’s largest Islamic organization has warned the government against rushing to outlaw the minority religious sect Ahmadiyah, a day after the proposal sparked a fierce backlash from human rights watchdogs.

Masdar F. Masudi, deputy chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, said disbanding religious groups was a form of violence.

“If we disband Ahmadiyah, we could anger [its] followers. We do not need to rush in dissolving Ahmadiyah, even if [the NU] is in clear dispute with them on Islamic teachings,” he told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday.

In House of Representatives hearings earlier this week, Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said Ahmadiyah should be banned because it had angered mainstream Muslims.

If their activities are not banned, he said, the potential for conflict would escalate.

Ahmadiyah, founded in India in 1889, holds that the group’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the last prophet — a belief that contradicts a tenet of Islam that reserves that position for the Prophet Muhammad.

Masudi, however, suggested holding a dialogue with the group to clarify issues.

“We have to conduct dakwah [spreading the word of Islam] wisely. And we believe in conducting dialogue with elegance. Remember, the Koran [says] nothing about the forcible conversion to Islam,” he said.

“If, after we have conducted a dialogue with them and they are still steadfast in their beliefs, [we will] leave them alone. The correct way, after all, is already clearly detailed in the Koran.”

Separately, NU chairman Said Aqil Siradj on Wednesday said any plans to ban the controversial Muslim sect must be studied “absolutely seriously.”

“Ahmadiyah has been in Indonesia since 1925. Why is it being made a problem now? This is not a local organization and is present in 102 countries around the globe,” he said.

According to Said, members of Ahmadiyah should be left alone, but should be “[forbidden] to spread their teachings outside.”

“They should be instead led to follow the right path through dialogue,” he said.

The suggestion to ban Ahmadiyah — declared by the Religious Affairs Ministry, the Home Affairs Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office as a deviant sect in a 2008 decree — drew criticism from several nongovernmental organizations.

Bonar Tigor Naipospos, deputy chairman of the Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy, said on Wednesday that Suryadharma’s comments could easily be used to justify attacks against Ahmadiyah members by hardline Islamic groups.

Meanwhile, Mohamad Guntur Romli, a noted Muslim intellectual and a graduate of Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, said on Thursday that Suryadharma was wrong to suggest banning Ahmadiyah.

“The religious affairs minister should not say things beyond his capacity that rile up the atmosphere,” he said.

“So far, the members of Ahmadiyah have never made problems for Indonesia. They do not undermine the authority of government, or attempt to conduct treason.”

Guntur agreed with the NU’s stance in calling for a peaceful resolution to the issue.

“From the time of [NU’s founder] Hadratus Shaikh Hasyim Asyari to [former President] Abdurrahman Wahid, the NU’s stance has been very clear: defend Ahmadiya’s right to live in accordance with their constitutional rights as Indonesians.”

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/indonesian-cleric...viant-sect/394334

Religious Affairs Minister Still Insists on Dissolving Ahmadiyah

Religious Affairs Minister Still Insists on Dissolving Ahmadiyah

Thursday, 02 September, 2010 | 16:17 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta — The Religious Affairs Minister, Suryadharma Ali, insists on stopping all Ahmadiyah religious activities.

Suryadharma said that their activities still violates the Department of Home Affairs Decree, the Department of Religious Affairs Decree and the Attorney General Ministerial Decree, issued some time ago.

“The thought behind the dissolution were not simple. The choice to let it be and dissolving it have its own risks, but we must refer to the ministerial decree,” said Suryadharma after an Iftar meal at the Vice President’s house, on Tuesday (31/8).

Suryadharma said that the ministerial decree is a legal formal law.

The point is demanding Ahmadiyah to stop spreading its teachings because it is against a religion’s main foundation.

Besides that, Suryadharma also hold onto PNPS Decree no. 1/1965 on religious desecration.

He worried that if the matter is unresolved, it will create a bigger problem.

According to him, it has the potential to cause public friction and is very dangerous.

“If this is left unresolved, it would seem that we let it grow. Moreover, this is quite sensitive and if nothing is done about it, there will be escalation and it could create public friction,” he said.

However, Suryadharma warned that the Ahmyadiyah dissolution should be carried out in stages.

That is the reason he asked all Islamic mass organizations to provide counseling to Ahmadiyah adherents.

But Suryadharma promised that he will coordinate with certain parties to carry out this plan.

“Of course we must coordinate efforts as to resolve the matter.”

EKO ARI WIBOWO

Copyright © 2010 TEMPOinteraktif
URL: www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2010/09/02/brk,20100902-276005,uk.html

Editorial: The tyranny of the majority

EDITORIAL Wed, 09/01/2010 11:25 AM

Editorial: The tyranny of the majority

The Jakarta Post

“The greatest threat facing the US is the tyranny of the majority,” penned nineteenth-century French writer Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America. He could just as easily be writing about Indonesia today, especially after Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali announced his plan to ban Ahmadiyah, a religious sect with more than 200,000 followers. He said the presence of the sect, whose existence predates even this republic, is an affront to Islam, the country’s predominant religion.

His statement is a clear display of raw power in the name of the majority. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s silence in the face of what is a clear a breach of the constitution is indicative of his own complicity. Tocqueville’s warning is upon us. This country, founded upon religious freedom, that claims to pride itself on the diversity of its people, is in peril.

The basis of Suryadharma’s action against the Ahmadiyah is a 2008 decree that forbids Ahmadiyah from propagating its teachings, including its tenet that Muhammad was not the final prophet, as mainstream Muslims believe. Despite the case never having gone to court, the decree was drawn up based on the 1965 Blasphemy Law to curtail the group’s activities. But if this is a pretext used to ban a religion or denomination, then other religions and minority groups in Islam in this country have plenty to worry about.

The action against Ahmadiyah is based on the Religious Affairs Ministry’s interpretation of a faith. If this is the case, the question is where does it stop? Mainstream Islam has interpretations about God and truth that are different from other religions: Is Jesus God or a prophet? Was Jesus crucified or was it someone else? Did Abraham slaughter Ismail or Isaac? If Muslims find idolatries offensive, should shrines and statues of Buddha be demolished? Is Muhammad the last prophet of Islam? Going by the reasoning used to ban Ahmadiyah, any of the above different interpretations and many more could one day be deemed by majority Muslims to be heretical and offensive, and used as ground to ban a religion. No minority religion or sect is safe in this country.

The tyranny of the majority in Indonesia comes in the form of religious persecution. It is a reflection of increasing intolerance on the part of majority Muslims towards religious minorities. Why else is the action against Ahmadiyah taking place now, after decades of peaceful coexistence? Other religious minorities are also feeling the brunt. Christians, the largest among the minorities, are finding it difficult to build their churches and many existing ones are being vandalized and their followers attacked.

Suryadharma, a politician by background and chairman of the Islamist United Development Party (PPP), was completely out of line when he encouraged citizens to act as watchdogs to the activities of Ahmadiyah followers. On the ground, his statement has been interpreted as a green light to harass and attack the sect’s followers. Suryadharma should be fired for using his Cabinet position for his own political objectives, and for encouraging the use of violence against other citizens.

For years, many people have questioned the wisdom of having a full ministry in charge of religious affairs. The late Abdurrahman Wahid, when he was president, pondered about disbanding the ministry but refrained. Religious affairs are managed quite effectively by religious leaders, and their relations are being managed through interfaith dialogues. The problem begins when the state starts interfering, interpreting the substance of religion and inevitably takes sides.

Between disbanding Ahmadiyah for violating some obscure governmental decree and disbanding the Religious Affairs Ministry, whose minister is in clear violation of the Constitution by promoting religious intolerance and the tyranny of majority, we know which course Indonesia should take. God be with us.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/09/01/editorial-the-tyranny-majority.html

Minister’s Call to Outlaw Ahmadiyah Angers Non-Governmental Organizations

Jakarta

Minister’s Call to Outlaw Ahmadiyah Angers Non-Governmental Organizations

Dessy Sagita & Anita Rachman | September 01, 2010

Jakarta. Aghast by Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali’s controversial statements advocating the banning of the Ahmadiyah sect, a number of nongovernmental organizations on Wednesday said they would author a letter of protest asking the minister to clarify his statement.

The Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy, the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) were reacting to Suryadharma’s statements earlier this week that Ahmadiyah, a controversial Islamic movement, was not Muslim, and therefore saw nothing wrong in declaring that it was time for Ahmadiyah to be banned.

Suryadharma told House of Representatives hearings on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday that Ahmadiyah must be stopped because it has angered mainstream Muslims in Indonesia.

He said that Ahmadiyah has disrupted interreligious peace, and if their activities were not banned immediately the potential for conflict would escalate.

“Every choice has a consequence, but I think the most suitable choice is to disband Ahmadiyah completely and not to let them do their activities,” the minister said during Tuesday’s hearing.

Bonar Tigor Naipospos, Setara deputy chairman, told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday that Suryadharma’s statements could easily be interpreted as a justification for radical Islamic groups to attack Ahmadiyah members and prevent them from practicing their religion.

“Because Suryadharma’s statement was made shortly after National Police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri made his statements [on Sunday] that violent mass organizations should not be tolerated, it seems like the Minister is trying to use [Bambang’s statement] for his political maneuver,” he said, explaining that the minister could be trying to paint Ahmadiyah as an organization that also needed to be banned.

Bonar also said that Suryadharma’s stance against Ahmadiyah could trigger suspicions that he was using Bambang’s statement for his party’s gain. Suryadharma is from the United Development Party (PPP), one of the smaller parties in the ruling coalition.

Bonar said the memorandum of protest the organizations would send would ask for clarification as to whether the minister’s statement reflected his own political stance, or represented the policy of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in general.

“We don’t know if the matter regarding Ahmadiyah had been discussed in the cabinet meeting,” he said

“If the Minister’s statement was his personal political stance, he should retract the statement immediately and make a public apology,” he added.

Bonar said that Suryadharma’s claim that he would wait until after Ramadan to make any further comments regarding Ahmadiyah sounded like a threat to sect members.

Suryadharma denied that his statement would encourage radical organizations, like the hard-line Islamic Defender Front (FPI) and the Betawi Community Forum (FBR), to attack Ahmadiyah.

“It’s not a legitimation for anarchy, but there has been a consensus that Ahmadiyah is not allowed to spread its practice because it’s wrong,” he said, adding that Muslims should not tolerate any party that would ruin Islam’s reputation.

A 2008 decree by the Religious Affairs Ministry, the Home Affairs Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office decreed Ahmadiyah a deviant sect.

Though the decree stopped short of banning the sect completely, it banned its members from publicly practicing their faith and spreading their beliefs or proselytizing.

Members of Ahmadiyah, founded in India in 1889, hold that the group’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the last prophet, a belief that contradicts a tenet of Islam that reserves that position for the Prophet Muhammad.

The members of Ahmadiyah are already familiar with violence and attacks against them.

In February 2006, thousands of mainstream Muslims in West Nusa Tenggara burned homes belonging to Ahmadiyah members in Lombok.

The incidents left as many as 137 people homeless, all of whom had to be escorted by police officers to a temporary shelter in Mataram, the provincial capital.

On Aug. 9 this year, some 200 people rallied in front of an Ahmadiyah mosque in Surabaya, demanding the government shut it down.

They ended up vandalizing the mosque by dismantling the signs at its gate.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/ministers-cal...tions/394109

Planned Ahmadiyah ban ‘humiliating’

HEADLINES Wed, 09/01/2010 9:37 AM

Planned Ahmadiyah ban ‘humiliating’

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Human rights activists have described Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali’s proposal to disband the Ahmadiyah congregation as a “setback” and a national “humiliation”.

Rafendi Djamin, Indonesia’s representative to ASEAN’s Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that Suryadharma’s statement was a setback and was counter to the country’s commitment to religious freedom.

The minister will inflame hard-line groups to commit even more violence with such a statement, he added.

Suryadharma said on Monday that Ahmadiyah “must be disbanded immediately” because it violated a 2008 joint ministerial decree that stated that Ahmadiyah can not propagate its teachings.

The process of dissolving the group will be gradual, Suryadharma said Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

“We will not abruptly disband it. The process will begin with the enforcement of the joint ministerial decree,” he said.

Neither Suryadharma nor the ministry provided evidence supporting the minister’s allegations.

Rafendi said the planned ban of Ahmadiyah was inimical to the country’s efforts to uphold the principles of human rights and democracy.

President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono previously told an audience at Harvard University in the US that Indonesia “has shown that Islam, modernity and democracy — plus economic growth and national unity — can be a powerful partnership.”

Yudhoyono also said that the country wanted to ensure that tolerance and respect for religious freedom became part of its “trans-generational DNA” and that Indonesia was a powerful example of how Islam, democracy and modernity can go “hand in hand”.

Jamaah Ahmadiyah, which has 200,000 followers in Indonesia, has also been the target of attacks from hard-line Islamic groups, most recently in Manis Lor, Kuningan regency when three were injured.

Hard-line Muslim organizations have demanded that the group be banned.

Home Affairs Ministry spokesman Saut Situmorang told the Post that a mass organization could be banned if it was proven to have disturbed the public order or posed a threat to national unity.

Saut said if the Religious Affairs Ministry decided to ban Ahmadiyah group, the Home Affairs Ministry would have to apply the 1985 Law on Mass Organizations, which provides a mechanism to disband groups.

Nurkholis Hidayat, the chairman of the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation, asked if the Ahmadiyah needed to be banned under the law. “I think the FPI [Islam Defenders Front] meets more of the requirements,” he said.

Rafendi said banning Ahmadiyah would justify more violence. “What [Suryadharma] said concerns an inalienable right [of the Ahmadiyah members] to hold religious beliefs that cannot be denied in any kind of situation,” he added.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/09/01/planned-ah...E2%80%99.html

Ahmadiyah to pray, stay calm over banning issue

HEADLINES Tue, 08/31/2010 2:30 PM

Ahmadiyah to pray, stay calm over banning issue

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian followers of the Jemaah Ahmadiyah faith will pray and be patient in response to their possible disbanding by the government, discussions on which will be conducted after the Idul Fitri celebrations.

“We are a legal institution. Therefore, there are rules to dissolving our institution. If the government is committed to banning [Ahmadiyah], we hope it will be done by legal means,” Ahmadiyah spokesman Zafrullah Ahmad told kompas.com Tuesday.

He said the Ahmadis have always forborne any violence against their group, which has existed in Indonesia since 1925.

“Our imam [leader] tells us to stay calm and pray when we are attacked. However, we are concerned about those who intend to harm us. The government must do something to protect its people, because the nation will carry the burden [if it allows such violence against minority groups],” he added.

On Monday evening, the Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali called for the banning of the Jamaah Ahmadiyah faith – who claims to be Muslim – as followers violated regulations and were not Muslim.

The group has about 200,000 followers across the country.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/08/31/a...er-banning-issue.html

Religious Affairs Minister’s remarks on Ahmadiyah deplored

NATIONAL Tue, 08/31/2010 12:51 PM

Religious Affairs Minister’s remarks on Ahmadiyah deplored

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Activist of the National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Usman Hamid deplored on Tuesday a statement by Minister of Religious Affair Suryadharma Ali that the Jamaah Ahmadiyah faith – who claim to be Muslim – had to be broken up as followers violated regulations and were not Muslims.

Suryadharma was criticized for not being able to show his good statesmanship.

“He thought as if it were a simple problem,” Usman said in Jakarta as quoted by kompas.com. He expressed fear that the minister’s improper statement would spark fresh attacks against Ahmadiyah followers by certain irresponsible groups.

According to Usman, Suryadharma should have emulated late president Soekarno in connection with the existence of Ahmadiyah.

Soekarno did not agree with the Ahmadiyah group, but he still admitted it as one of the nation’s children, Usman said.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/08/31/religio...h-deplored.html

Ahmadiyah must be disbanded: Minister

NATIONAL Mon, 08/30/2010 9:57 PM

Ahmadiyah must be disbanded: Minister

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government must dissolve Ahmadiyah because its teachings are against a joint ministerial decree, Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said.

“Ahmadiyah must be dispersed because its existence may grow more troublesome,” Suryadharma said Tuesday after attending a meeting at the House of Representatives, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

The decree clearly states that Ahmadiyah must not be widely spread because it deviates from Islamic teaching — it does not even believe the Koran is the last Holy Book, among other things, he said.

“The sect does not believe that Muhammad SAW was the last Prophet, which is against Islam.

If such understanding is considered religious freedom, then I call it excessive freedom,” Suryadharma said.

The government will make preparations to disband Ahmadiyah after Idul Fitri, he said.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/08/30/ahmadiyah-must-be-disbanded-minister.html

Minister urges sect followers to stop spreading faith

HEADLINES Sat, 07/31/2010 10:40 AM

Minister urges sect followers to stop spreading faith

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Dicky Christanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali called Ahmadiyah apostate to Islamic teaching and said followers should stop propagating their faith.

“It’s clear from a 2008 joint ministerial decree that Ahmadiyah is not a religion and can be categorized as deviant to Islam. Therefore [Ahmadiyah] followers had better stop their activities,” the minister said.

Suryadharma also warned the public against resorting to violence in dealing with the “issue” as occurred on Thursday in Kuningan, West Java.

“The government will not tolerate any use of violence in dealing with sectarianism and all religious communities have to abide by the law to maintain order and security,” he said in Jakarta, after inaugurating the Al-Jabr International Islamic Junior High School in Pondok Labu, South Jakarta, on Friday.

Hundreds of members of hard-line Muslim organizations clashed with Ahmadiyah followers at Manis Lor village in Kuningan regency. The attackers demanded Ahmadiyah be banned. Three people were injured and several houses were damaged in the clashes.

Suryadharma said civil society groups and mass organizations had no authority enforcing the law but were required to report any disturbances of order and security to the police.

He said that despite their similar roots, Ahmadiyah and Islam were different because Ahmadiyah did not recognize Muhammad as the last prophet “and this is really a betrayal of true Islamic teaching”.

The minister said the government would soon enforce a 2008 joint ministerial decree on Ahmadiyah with the help of the police because it had not been effective since being issued.

He said the government would rely on the police to enforce the decree when asked whether the government and the police would crack down on Ahmadiyah followers and close down their houses of worship.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said police would remain neutral in handling the incident and enforcing the decree.

“Our concern is solely to prevent any clashes and bloodshed to maintain order and security,” Edward said Friday.

He said 500 security officers were deployed to monitor negotiations between the local administration and Ahmadiyah leaders in the village.

The Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace condemned the attack on Ahmadiyah followers and the forced closure of their mosque in Kuningan, and called on authorities to end the use of violence against the minority group. “The use of violence will not solve the dispute,” Setara deputy chairman Bonar Tigor Naipospos said Friday.

There remains a heavy police presence around Manis Lor village, where 3,000 of the 4,350 residents are followers of Ahmadiyah.

“We feel safe with the security personnel around and we are very grateful for that,” Deden Sujana, who heads Ahmadiyah’s security commission, said.

— Nana Rukmana contributed to the story from Kuningan, West Java.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/07/31/minister-urg...reading-faith.html

Court to stage debate on religious freedom

--- The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Headlines    Fri, 02/05/2010 9:22 AM

Court to stage debate on religious freedom

Ary Hermawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Constitutional Court will see one of its longest hearings as it becomes a forum for clerics, activists, pundits and artists to debate whether the country should revoke a 45-year-old blasphemy law to uphold freedom of religion.

The court opened Thursday the first hearing of a judicial review filed by a number of human rights groups against the 1965 Blasphemy Law, which they said was adverse to human rights principles and irrelevant to a democratic Indonesia.

The review has been strongly opposed by the government and major Muslim organizations as well as hardline groups including the Islam Defender’s Front (FPI), whose members staged a rally outside the court Thursday.

The court is set to present 31 experts, including sociologist Imam Prasodjo, poet Emha Ainun Nadjib, novelist Andrea Hirata and filmmaker Garin Nugroho, to share their opinions on the issue.

“The examination will be extensive,” court chief Mahfud M.D said. “We usually hold a hearing every fourteen days, but in this case, we will hold it weekly.” The examination will take at least four months.

The petitioners will present experts including Ahmad Syafii Maarif, Franz Magnis-Suseno, Luthfi Assyaukanie and Cole Durham, professor of law from the US, who will speak at the court via a teleconference.

Syafii will be speaking against his colleagues in Muhammadiyah, which, like Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), officially expressed its opposition to the judicial review. Ten Islamic organizations, including Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, will also be given a say in court.

The government and the House of Representatives are against the judicial review.

In Thursday’s hearing, Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali demanded the court reject the activists’ request on the grounds that no petitioners had their constitutional rights denied because of the law.

“We ask the court to decide if the judicial review request is unacceptable,” the minister said Suryadharma also said the law had for decades served to maintain harmony in religiously diverse Indonesia. “Annulling the law will create conflict, instability and disharmony. It is urgently needed to endorse religious tolerance.”

Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar argued that religious freedom did not mean people could practice their beliefs regardless of existing laws.

Chairuman Harahap, representing the legislators, concurred with Patrialis, saying the law remained relevant though it was created decades ago. “From a sociological perspective, a law should be in line with the will of the people,” he said.

Uli Parulian Sihombing, a lawyer for petitioners, said they were not asking for absolute freedom, but assurance that religious interpretation on certain religious teachings were not subject to prosecution by the state. Uli referred to the case of Jamaah Ahmadiyah, an Islamic sect that has been declared heretical and banned by the government.

In 2008, a pro-Ahmadiyah group called the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion, was attacked by FPI and Hizbut Tahrir members, who strongly supported the government’s move to ban Ahmadiyah.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/05/cour...ligious-freedom.html