Survivors Recount Violence in Cikeusik

INDONESIA

Survivors Recount Violence in Cikeusik

Ulma Haryanto | May 16, 2011

The house in Cikeusik, Banten, where a mob attacked an Ahmadiyah community in February. Three Ahmadiyah members were killed in the attack. (Antara Photo)

Ahmad Masihuddin, Irwan and Bebi are the lucky ones.

Ahmad recalls the moment when a man attempted to mutilate his genitals, while Irwan has developed an intense fear of water. Bebi cannot speak, due to a dislocated jaw, and must eat through a straw.

Despite the fear of reprisals, two of these three men — Ahmad and Irwan — met with the Jakarta Globe over the weekend to recount their memories of the bloody attack against a small group of Amhadiyah sect members in the village of Cikeusik, Banten, on Feb. 6.

On that day, three Ahmadis — Roni Pasaroni, Warsono and Tubagus Chandra — were killed by a 1,500-strong mob. Much of the violence was captured on video, and footage of Ahmadi men stripped of their clothes and being brutally beaten with stones and bamboo sticks can be seen on YouTube.

Twelve men are facing charges in relation to the attack. If found guilty their maximum sentences could range from 12 years in jail to the death penalty.

But Irwan and Ahmad say that even the harshest of punishments for those 12 men will not blot out the acts of cruelty they witnessed and endured on that day. Nor will guilty verdicts dampen the attendant rage and frustration they feel at a police force that is widely seen as having stood by and allowing the violence to unfold.

“Police pronounced me dead when my muddy, naked body was thrown into a police truck,” Ahmad said. “If I did not use the martial arts knowledge I learned through the years, I’d be among the dead.”

The police had collected Ahmad’s battered body after he had been dragged through the dirt by a group of enraged attackers. “Along the way, people slashed me with machetes, and threw rocks and bamboo poles at me. I lost consciousness. I believed I had died.”

Unguarded

Irwan, Roni and Warsono had left for Cikeusik from Jakarta on the night of Feb. 5. Irwan told the Globe that they had traveled to Cikeusik to provide security for a demonstration that the village’s Ahmadiyah community was planning on staging the next day.

“I was at our regular Koran recital meeting in Petojo [Central Jakarta]. Roni came to me and asked if I wanted to come along with him to Cikeusik,” Irwan said. “I asked him what for. He told me to guard a demonstration.”

They arrived around 10 p.m. on Saturday night, and were met by Deden Sujana, head of security for the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI). The next day, Deden would almost lose his right arm to a machete attack, and police would later name him as a suspect for triggering the violence.

Ahmad, who lives in Kalideres, West Jakarta, had likewise gone to Cikeusik to provide security for the demonstration.

“Eki, a colleague of mine at JAI, was on holiday and asked me to replace him to guard an Ahmadi home in Cikeusik. Without thinking it over, I agreed,” he said.

“I was in the same car as [Tubagus] Chandra and Diaz [Ferdiaz Muhammad, an Ahmadi who survived the incident]. Chandra was driving, we arrived at Serang at 3 a.m. and picked up five more Ahmadis.”

Ahmad had prior experience protecting sect members. In 2008 he had guarded an Ahmadi school in Parung, Bogor, that had come under attack, and he had been on hand with the now-deceased Tubagus when one of the sect’s orphanages in Tasikmalaya, West Java, was sealed by local authorities last December.

Ahmad worked in the administrations division at JAI, while Tubagus worked for the security division with Deden. Ahmad, however, was well trained in self-defense. He had earned a black belt in Taekwondo at the age of 15, and was instructing others in Muay Thai at 18.

As Ahmad and his friends pulled into Cikeusik, he was relieved to see some dozens of police officers standing watch over both ends of the road where the house of local Ahmadiyah cleric Ismail Suparman was located. “I texted my parents so that they didn’t have to worry. The police were here,” Ahmad said.

“Suddenly, the wife of the Cikeusik village head, Inayah, ran toward us screaming. She told all of us to leave immediately, because it seemed thousands of people were marching to Cikeusik to slaughter us. Deden told her, ‘Don’t worry. We have Pak Hasan [Cikeusik Police chief of general crimes unit] here.’ ”

However, video footage posted on YouTube clearly showed the police running away when the mob attacked.

Tired from their late-night journey, Ahmad said he and his friends laid down to rest. They awoke around 10:30 a.m., he said, to loud chants of “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) and “Ahmadiyah infidels” mixed in with the sound of stones hitting the house.

To Ahmad’s ears, it sounded as if thousands of people were outside Ismail’s home. It was then, Ahmad said, that Deden rushed outside, and attempted to hit a man in a black jacket who seemed to be leading the mob.

“This man was Idris Mahdani,” Ahmad said. “He is from Banyu Mundu village [40 kilometers away from Cikeusik]. After he was hit by Deden, he retreated several steps back before taking out his machete and waved it in the air as the villagers pelted the Ahmadis with rocks.”

Vicious Beatings

Following Deden’s lead, Ahmad said he went outside and starting throwing stones back at the mob, but realizing that they were vastly outnumbered, he and some of the other sect members tried to escape out the back door of Ismail’s house. “We ended up stuck in knee-high mud at the paddy fields. We could not run. The drive to Cikeusik was taxing and we were exhausted,” he said.

The group of Ahmadis parted then, he said. Some sought cover in a patch of jungle while others headed to a nearby river.

Irwan and Ahmad fled to the river. Irwan slipped and fell in. Ahmad stumbled and was caught by the mob.

“I had with me about Rp 2 million ($235) for food and accommodation, and my BlackBerry. The mob greedily took it. But they still did not spare me.”

It was then that he saw Roni trying to go to the defense of their friend Bebi, who was on the ground being kicked by members of the mob. Someone would drop a heavy stone on Bebi’s face, but he would survive, largely because of Roni’s help.

Roni, who declined to talk to the Globe, would suffer a dislocated jaw in the attack.

In the meantime, Ahmad was fighting for his own life.

“I saw Irwan slip and fall into the river. I had 10 men on top of me trying to hit me with sticks and stones and they stabbed me with their machetes,” he said.

Ahmad said he was dragged 500 meters back to Ismail’s house, and viciously beaten the whole way. He said he saw Roni being stabbed with a bamboo spear.

“They stripped me,” Ahmad said. “They were about to cut my genitals. I shoved the man and shouted ‘You guys have to have limits!’ Another man hit me on the side but the impact also knocked away the guy who tried to mutilate my genitals.”

Ahmad said that he tried to retain his focus and stay calm during the beating, protecting his head and neck in particular to avoid being fatally wounded by the mob.

“I turned on my side and let it take the beatings. I did not want to give them my neck.” He said that he still felt a numbness in his neck from the injuries he sustained during the prolonged beating. “Part of my body went to sleep, as if struck by a stroke.”

At some point, Ahmad said, he lost consciousness.

“The police thought I was dead; they threw me into the car just like that. But I gained consciousness and started to ask for water. I was extremely dehydrated,” he said.

While Ahmad was struggling to survive the mob’s anger, Irwan was struggling to stay afloat in the river while also dodging a hail of rocks being thrown at him.

“I could barely swim,” Irwan said. “I was dragged by the current as I tried to stay afloat. In the meantime the mob was still trying to hit me with rocks,” he said.

At one point, he went under, and lost track of the time. He said he had no idea how long he was submerged, but remembered being pulled from the river.

“At one point it was all dark. But then I heard a voice calling me. It was Yadi, another Ahmadi” Irwan said. Yadi had swum against the current to rescue Irwan, dragging him to the shore.

Shirt for a Bandage

For Ahmad, the trip from Cikeusik to Malingping hospital, 10 kilometers away, took one and a half hours. He said the police gave him a shirt with which to stem the bleeding from a gash on his head.

“I met Deden in the hospital, he was holding his right hand, I saw Bebi vomiting blood, Ferdiaz put me on his lap and started giving me water, he was also injured,” he said.

Deden was taken to Pertamina hospital in Jakarta. The other men were transferred to Serang hospital, six hours away. In Serang, their fresh stitches had to be removed because they crusted with dirt.

Although Irwan did not sustain any serious injuries, he said he was now terrified of water, and had trouble recounting the details of the attack.

“I am undergoing counseling for my trauma. My therapist said that I had to think of water as my savior. If the river current didn’t carry me away, I might be one of the casualties,” he said.

Ahmad, however, said he was consumed with rage whenever he saw police officers or fundamentalist Muslims in white robes.

“Once I wanted to go to Senen, I passed the National Monument and at that time there was a demonstration on Libya and Ahmadiyah. All of a sudden I started shouting to the driver, ‘Just hit them! Hit them! Why should they make a fuss over another country when their own is still in a mess,’?” he said.

Ahmad also said he suffered from vertigo and severe headaches after the beating, and had just recently recovered the ability to speak.

“Previously, I found it almost impossible to talk,” he said.

“Once I was in Citraland [West Jakarta mall] and saw a police officer. I went to him and screamed at him, ‘What are you doing here? You’re doing nothing! Just like in Cikeusik! Officers only watch and do nothing!’ ”

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/indonesia/survivors-.../441269

Violations of Religious Freedom in Indonesia Rise in 2010

NEWS

Violations of Religious Freedom in Indonesia Rise in 2010

Ulma Haryanto | January 25, 2011

Youths chanting in front of a burning house belonging to an Ahmadiyah follower in Ciampea, West Java, late last year. A total of 216 cases of violations of religious freedom across Indonesia were recorded in 2010, up just a little from the 200 cases recorded in 2009, a human rights watchdog says. (Reuters Photo)

Jakarta. A total of 216 cases of violations of religious freedom across Indonesia were recorded last year, up just a little from the 200 cases recorded in 2009, according to a human rights watchdog.

In a media briefing on Monday, the Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy pointed out that West Java, with 91 cases registered last year alone, continued to top the list as the region where the highest number of violations occurred.

East Java stands at second place with 28 violations last year, followed by Jakarta with 16 cases.

Setara’s Ismail Hasani said the highest number of violations in all of last year — 75 — were targeted at Christian congregations, followed by 50 violations aimed at the Ahmadiyah, a minority Muslim sect.

“A total of 59 houses of worship were attacked or suffered security disturbances last year. Of those 59, 43 were Christian houses of worship and 9 were Ahmadiyah mosques,” Ismail told reporters.

The number of incidents, he said, peaked in August 2010.

“Even though we did not detect any significant trigger for August last year, we believe the number of incidents coincides with statements and speeches that condone attacks — a violation in itself — by state figures and leaders,” Ismail continued.

Those behind the violations were divided by Setara into two categories: government and non-government. The police, the institute said, with 56 cases topped the list of those responsible for or condoning violations, followed by district heads in 19 and subdistrict chiefs in 17 cases.

“The Indonesian Council of Ulema [MUI] took second place among the non-state actors with 22 violations, followed by the Islamic Defenders Front [FPI] with 17,” Ismail added.

Setara chairman and founder Hendardi called on the state to guarantee the rights of the people and to eradicate violence and religious intolerance.

“This has been the fourth year we published a report like this. We see it as a tool to demand from the state, over and over again, to protect religious freedom, which is the people’s constitutional right,” he said.

Setara deputy chairman Bonar Tigor Naipospos added that the central government had only responded to two incidents after they escalated into physical conflict: the Ahmadiyah attack in Kuningan, West Java, in July and the attack of leaders of the Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKBP) in Bekasi in September.

“The central government only reacted to situations that had already gotten out of hand — smaller incidents were left for regional governments to deal with, which do not have the capacity to solve such problems,” Bonar said. He added that 40 percent of the cases in 2010 were conflicts that had been going on for years.

Contrary to recent statements made by Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali, Nasaruddin Umar, director general for Islamic Affairs at the ministry, said there had been religious conflicts in 2010, although he said these were part of local political struggles.

“Causes or issues presented in religious terms always attract many followers,” he said.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/violations...2010/418819

Indonesia Clerics Alleging Ahmadiyah Ties Protest Candidates

NEWS

Indonesia Clerics Alleging Ahmadiyah Ties Protest Candidates

Yuli Krisna | January 25, 2011

Bandung. In yet another blow to the beleaguered Ahmadiyah community, a group of Islamic clerics in Garut, West Java, have formally objected to the three candidates for district secretary on the grounds that they may be from the sect.

In a hearing at the district legislature on Monday, dozens of clerics and community elders said the three men nominated for the post by the district head — Iman Ali Rahman, Hermanto and Indriana Soemarto — were “suspected of following Ahmadiyah teachings.”

Ahmad Hidayat, one of the clerics, said this was grounds for the district head to “repeal all the nominations made earlier.”

Legislative speaker Irfan Suryanagara pointed out that there were no provisions forbidding members of the minority Islamic sect from seeking office.

“All citizens are guaranteed equal legal standing. That’s the law,” he said.

However, he conceded to demands that candidates be questioned about their backgrounds.

“If they’re believed to be from a certain element of society, we have to look into whether the allegations are true,” he said.

District head Aceng Fikri labeled the allegations by the clerics questionable, but he declined to comment on whether he would nominate an Ahmadiyah follower to his administration.

“I’m not going to comment on it because I’m bound to be accused of discrimination,” he told the Jakarta Globe.

He stressed none of the candidates were Ahmadis.

“They’ve been accused of being Ahmadiyah, but there’s nothing to indicate this, so we could be dealing with a baseless accusation here,” he said.

He added that one of the candidates, Iman, had even gone so far as to sign a sworn statement before a group of clerics to deny he was an Ahmadi.

He said all three candidates had met the requirements to become district secretary, a post second in command to the district head and his deputy.

“For that reason, I refuse to withdraw their candidacies and will stick with my decision,” Aceng said.

Members of the Ahmadiyah continue to face acts of discrimination and outright oppression by mainstream and hard-line Muslims across much of the country, including West Java.

In October, a mob of 200 looted homes and burned down a mosque and school belonging to an Ahmadiyah community in Bogor.

Similar attacks have also occurred recently in Cianjur, Sukabumi, Garut, Tasikmalaya, Ciamis and Kuningan, while in West Nusa Tenggara, an Ahmadiyah community purged from its village in 2006 has been forced to live in a “temporary” shelter and denied permission to return home.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesia...candidates/418818

Indonesian Prosecutors ‘Dead’ Wrong in Sect Stabbing Claim in Bogor

NEWS

Indonesian Prosecutors ‘Dead’ Wrong in Sect Stabbing Claim in Bogor

Ulma Haryanto | January 20, 2010

Ahmad Nuryamin, 35, was arrested and accused of a stabbing he says he was forced to confess to during torture. (JG Photo/ Nivell Rayda)

Indonesia. Prosecutors in Bogor on Wednesday admitted making a big mistake in their indictment of an Ahmadiyah sect member who was accused of stabbing a teenager during a mob attack on an Ahmadi settlement in October.

The indictment against Ahmad Nuryamin, 35, said a forensic test done on the victim’s “dead body” had shown stab wounds. But the defense counsel had argued that the victim, 15-year-old Rendi Apriansyah from neighboring Pasar Salasa village, was alive and only wounded — not dead.

In their response to last week’s defense statement at the court in Cibinong, Bogor, the team of prosecutors on Wednesday admitted to the mistake. “We admit that we were careless,” Prosecutor Nuraeni Aco told the court.

However, Nuraeni said the defendant was carrying a knife at the time of the incident and that the prosecutors would leave it to the court to decide whether he stabbed the victim or not.

“We believe it was suspicious for Nuryamin to have a knife with him at nighttime, because farmers don’t work at night,” she said.

Nuryamin has argued that, as a farmer, he carried the knife every day and that the victim had bumped into him in the confusion and darkness during the Oct. 1 attack by a mob of mainstream Muslims on Cisalada, a village that is home to some 600 members of the Ahmadiyah community. He said his knife had still been in its sheath at the time of the alleged attack.

“Rendi himself could not rightly identify the suspect,” Muhammad Isnur, a member of the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) and Nuryamin’s legal counsel, told reporters after the hearing. “First he said it was a long-bearded old man with a white shirt. The police arrested two elderly men, neither of whom carried a sharp weapon,” he said.

Police attention fell upon Nuryamin after a boy’s report that he had overheard him saying that he might have stabbed someone.

Nuryamin was arrested for questioning three days later.

He signed a confession that he had stabbed Rendi during the night of the attack when hundreds of assailants burned and looted homes, schools and a mosque in Cisalada.

But the defendant, who faces up to 10 years in jail for assault on a minor, claims he only signed the confession after being tortured by two police officers.

Nuryamin’s mother, Rohmatika, said that after he had been interrogated by the police, “I saw his face was full of bruises, his lips were bleeding and he had difficulty hearing.”

Judge Eddy Wibisono adjourned the trial to Jan. 27 to hear the prosecutors’ reply.

A different panel of judges at the same court on Wednesday heard the case of three teenagers who allegedly destroyed property during the same attack on Cisalada. Judge Atriwati adjourned their trial until Jan 26.

Authorities have declared the Ahmadiyah religion to be a deviant sect, and its followers have been the repeated target of attacks, especially in West Java and West Nusa Tenggara, by mainstream Muslim neighbors.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesian...in-bogor/417964

The Thinker: Faith Talks Silenced

OPINION

The Thinker: Faith Talks Silenced

Nicholaus Prasetya | January 17, 2011

Last week, Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali sparked debate when he said “there were no religious conflicts during 2010” in Indonesia.

But it doesn’t take much to see that the minister’s comment was far from the truth.

Last week, for instance, members of a hard-line Muslim group forced 15 people in Surabaya to halt a discussion on religious tolerance.

The Surabaya incident was a continuation of religious tussles from last year, including disputes over permits to worship and the forced closure of churches.

It had the look of numerous conflicts before it, having been perpetrated by intolerant groups whose moves were, in the end, supported by local authorities. In this case, police in Surabaya ultimately forced the meeting to end.

The forum was disbanded for two main reasons.

First, members of the Ahmadiyah community, a minority Muslim sect, were at the talks, according to news portal Detik.com. Their mere presence anywhere is enough for critics to launch protests or other forms of intimidation.

The other reason is an old excuse: The 15 participants apparently lacked a permit to hold such a forum.

The country is supposed to celebrate diversity, even when it comes to religion. Ahmadiyah members have rights that should be protected by the government.

However, many of the sect’s members live in fear — and they’re not the only ones.

The Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace recorded 28 attacks and rights violations against Christian communities across the archipelago in the first seven months of last year, up from 18 cases in 2009 and 17 in 2008.

The Wahid Institute cited 196 cases last year of violence based on intolerance and religious discrimination, an increase of almost 50 percent from a year earlier.

The Moderate Muslim Society, moreover, said at least 81 cases of religious conflict occurred last year — an increase of more than 30 percent from 2009.

In such a country where the government fails to ensure the rights of all its citizens, communication becomes integral to avoiding clashes such as the ones we have seen or heard about in the news.

But is there still room for religious tolerance if criticism is often silenced?

The German sociologist and philosopher Jurgen Habermas theorized that a rational society would evolve through the development of economy, technology or capital.

But he also said communication and information exchange — not the economy, as others such as Marx posited — was the true driving force of society.

Seen in this context, the Surabaya forum’s dispersal is particularly regrettable because participants were trying to engage in discourse on the very subject of engaging in discourse.

Ideally, peaceful communication means no group dominates the dialogue, giving all participants — with the goal of reaching a consensus — the chance to speak their minds, regardless of their status in the community.

Before the breakup of the talks, the Ahmadiyah members at the Surabaya forum were given a fair chance to share their thoughts. For once, they were not silenced by rowdy protests or government sanctions. They were not forced to follow what other groups wanted them to do.

The Ahmadis were there to talk about how to foster a better environment for interfaith harmony in the country.

Surely the meeting in Surabaya was a welcome break from the world where stigmatization, threats and repression are part of their daily lives. They are Indonesians, but strangers in their own land.

This begs the question: Why is it that groups of hard-liners do not participate in such forums instead of cracking down on such peaceful initiatives?

It is clear that, as a country with a Muslim majority, mainstream Islamic groups should be involved in the dialogue.

But resisting the urge to advance their own interests should be a prerequisite before they can take part. Ideal communication eschews the supremacy of one group over another and focuses on finding long-term solutions to conflicts through building consensus.

Interreligious conflicts should be bridged by communication.

They cannot be solved by force.

Thus, it is everyone’s duty to protect open lines of communication wherever they have been established.

Last year, it was clear to all — save perhaps for our religious affairs minister — just how common acts of intolerance were.

Should we expect the same this year?

We will if the rights to free speech and religious freedom are at the mercy of those who shut out ideas and beliefs contrary to their own.

Nicholaus Prasetya is currently a student at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB)

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/hard...activists/416885

Hard-Liners, Police Shut Down Tolerance Talk in Surabaya: Activists

NEWS

Hard-Liners, Police Shut Down Tolerance Talk in Surabaya: Activists

Amir TejoAmir Tejo | December 15, 2010

Members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) protesting against the Q! Film Festival in Jakarta last year. Pluralism advocates said hard-liners also disrupted a talk on religious tolerance in Surabaya on Thursday. (AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah)

Surabaya. Police and Islamic hard-liners on Thursday disbanded a discussion on religious tolerance in Surabaya, said members of a humanitarian watchdog who were in attendance.

Members of the Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy, a group that advocates for pluralism and freedom of worship, said they were participating in the discussion at a coffee shop in the Inna Simpang Hotel with groups including Surabaya Legal Aid and members of the minority Ahmadiyah sect.

They said the meeting was disrupted by dozens of members of a group calling itself the Warring Defenders of Islam (LPI).

Setara activists said Sasmito, a man identifying himself as the head of the LPI, told the attendees the discussion was illegal and would have to be disbanded.

Shortly afterward, the activists said, Surabaya Police arrived and conferred with the LPI, after which the hard-liners left.

The tolerance discussion resumed, but police returned and ordered an end to the gathering, Setara members said.

“We request that you stop with this discussion, because you have not informed us that you were going to hold it,” a police officer said, according to Setara official Bonar Tigor Naipospos.

Bonar said he demanded police tell them what law required police permission to hold a meeting.

“This was no demonstration which requires a permit. This was a meeting involving 15 people at a hotel. Why were we stopped from meeting?” Bonar told the Jakarta Globe.

He said police told him the meeting could pose a security risk because it was held not far from a building where President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would be staying during a working visit.

“This was a fabricated reason,” Bonar said.

“Yudhoyono’s visit anywhere would have extraordinary security. This was just a discussion.” He added that organizers had sent a text message to East Java Police Chief Insp. Gen. Badrodin Haiti informing him of the meeting, but that he hadn’t responded.

“We did not meet to conduct anarchic activities or to attack the country,” Bonar said.

“We met here to find a resolution for an ongoing problem. To find a resolution we must listen to all parties involved. This was meant to be positive.”

Members of the gathering said they believed that the hard-liners were connected to the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), a fundamentalist group known for forcibly imposing their religious views on others.

Setara Institute founder Hendardi on Thursday said he condemned the police’s failure in stopping hard-liners from disrupting human rights discussions.

“This is a clear threat to our constitutional rights to freely express our opinion,” he said.

“Police in the regions can no longer be separated from radical Islamic organizations, who continue to persecute and intimidate minority communities, including those organizations that fight for the rights of these communities.”

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/hard...surabaya-activists/416885

Religious Affairs Ministry Courts Controversy With Islamic Awards

NEWS

Religious Affairs Ministry Courts Controversy With Islamic Awards

Elisabeth Oktofani, Ulma Haryanto & Fitri R. | January 5, 2011

A gang of youths in West Lombok district destroying an empty home belonging to the Ahmadiyah community in November. Questions are being raised over the Religious Affairs Ministry’s decision to honor West Nusa Tenggara Governor Zainul Majdi, who has pushed for a ban on Ahmadiyah (JG Photo/Fitri)

Critics have lashed out at the Ministry of Religious Affairs for recently handing out awards to Muslim leaders, saying it unduly favored Islam over other faiths.

The ministry on Monday presented awards to six governors and 10 district heads and mayors for “explicitly including Islamic education in regional bylaws.”

Recipients included the governors of Bangka-Belitung, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, East Java, West Nusa Tenggara and South Sulawesi.

The winning district heads and mayors were from Lhokseumawe and Sabang in Aceh, East Ogan Komering Ulu and Palembang in South Sumatra, Lebak and Tangerang in Banten, Sukabumi in West Java, Jepara in Central Java, West Sumbawa in West Nusa Tenggara and Kendari in Southeast Sulawesi.

Ismail Hasani, a senior researcher at the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said the ministry “showed favoritism” by handing out the awards.

“It’s supposed to be the Religious Affairs Ministry, not the Islamic Affairs Ministry,” Ismail said on Tuesday.

“I fear that the objectivity of the country’s public officials has been compromised,” he added. “They no longer work for all groups in society, but rather they see things based on the dichotomy of majority and minority.”

In particular, Ismail questioned the ministry’s decision to honor West Nusa Tenggara Governor Zainul Majdi, who pushed for a ban on Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect considered deviant by most mainstream Muslims, in his province.

“Zainul is an Islamic cleric whose grandfather founded Nahdlatul Wathan, the biggest Islamic organization in the province,” Ismail said. “Now he has ambitions to build the country’s biggest Islamic center there, for which he’s already had two schools bulldozed. Not to mention he’s already quarantined the Ahmadiyah.”

Members of the sect have been forced to live in temporary shelters in Mataram after being barred from returning to their homes. Several provincial officials have proposed relocating sect members to a deserted island.

Taqiuddin Mansur, director of the Al Mansuryah Islamic boarding school in Central Lombok, said Zainul’s administration treated Nahdatul Wathan institutions more favorably than those run by Muhammadiyah or Nahdlatul Ulama, the country’s two biggest Islamic organizations.

“A governor shouldn’t be so primordial or sectarian like that,” he said.

Tantowi, a coordinator for the Institute of Humanitarian Studies (LenSA) in West Nusa Tenggara, said funding was skewed toward Zainul’s pet organization and projects.

“The provincial Islamic center gets an annual budget of Rp 500 billion [$56 million],” he said. “Meanwhile, anyone wanting to build a church or house of worship for any other religion gets a hard time from the authorities.”

Noorhaidi Hasan, from Jakarta’s Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, said the awards might have been politically motivated.

“Research shows that religious bylaws are often used only to accumulate power or influence, and they’re not always implemented,” he said. “That the administrations getting the awards are those that pushed for Islamic interests — there might be something there.”

Ismail said the awards were introduced after Suryadharma Ali became the religious affairs minister in October 2009. “During his rule, he has often made decisions that reflect his Islamic political background and not his role as a public official,” he said.

Afrizal Zein, a spokesman of the Religious Affairs Ministry, said the awards were initiated by the head of the Directorate of Islamic Education, which naturally recognized efforts to help Muslim schools.

“If other directorate heads want to do the same thing, they are allowed to do so,” he said. “It just depends on whether they have the budget for it.”

Bonar Tigor Naipospos, Setara’s deputy chairman, said the state should “maintain its distance” from all faiths.

“Unfortunately, the government does things that it thinks are right, but that only turn out to be discriminative,” he said.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/religious-affairs...islamic-awards/415126

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

Groups urge govt to stop intolerance, enforce law

HEADLINES Tue, 12/28/2010 10:34 AM

Groups urge govt to stop intolerance, enforce law

The Jakarta Post

Human rights activists called on the government Monday to cease the blockade of an Ahmadi orphanage in Tasikmalaya and protect people’s constitutional right to worship, while another group condemned an attack on a church in Bogor.

On Dec. 7, Tasikmalaya district prosecutors summoned the leader of Ahmadiyah’s Tasikmalaya branch and banned all religious activity inside the Ahmadiyah orphanage in Kawalu district of Tasikmalaya, West Java, citing public protests.

A day later, prosecutors and police sealed off the orphanage, locking 10 children inside.

“The police, prosecutors and local administration must reopen [the orphanage] immediately. It’s their home and they are only children who want to go to school and play,” Muhammad Isnur from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) said.

“The children, aged between 12 to 18 years old, have to climb the fence to get to the school located 2 kilometers from the home,” Budi Badrussalam, who lives close to the orphanage, said at the press conference held by the Coalition for Indonesian Children Advocacy on Monday.

Budi said the children stayed inside the orphanage and were looked after by a caretaker. “They have no choice,” he told The Jakarta Post.

Budi, who is also an Ahmadi, said the orphanage received threats this year from people claiming to be from the hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI) and the Islam Defender Troops (LPI).

One of the children, Sofwatur Rohman, said officials tried to expel the children on the same day that the orphanage was sealed off. “We choose to stay inside and they put a padlock on the gate after telling us they did it because the place was used for worship,” he said.

Rohman said neighbors sometimes checked on them and brought food for the locked-up children.

Children rights advocate from the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak), Seto Mulyadi, criticized the government for not protecting the children. “Children are supposed to be protected and should not be involved in any conflict, especially religious ones,” he said.

Nia Sjarifuddin from the Unity and Diversity National Alliance (ANBTI) condemned the government, including the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry, the National Education Ministry, Home Ministry and the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) for allowing the children to become victims of religious intolerance.

In another criticism of religious intolerance, the Wahid Institute slammed the government for condoning discrimination against the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) in Taman Yasmin, Bogor. The government sealed off the under-construction church and stopped the congregation from worshipping and conducting Christmas service.

“The Bogor administration once again violated our rights by ordering us not to observe Christmas this year,” Bona Sigalingging from the church told the Post.

The congregation has been on the receiving end of discriminatory treatment by the local government since March when officials forced them to stop the church construction and later sealed off the site.

Bona said the church had all requisite permits.

“Stop the discrimination. They have the right to worship in peace,” M. Subhi Azhari from the Wahid Institute said. “The central government must act immediately to protect their rights to worship.” (ipa)

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/12/28/groups-...-law.html

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

Where’s the Public Justification in Ostracizing Ahmadiyah?

OPINION

Where’s the Public Justification in Ostracizing Ahmadiyah?

Aristo Pangaribua | December 09, 2010

In the most recent example of religious intolerance targeting a minority group in Indonesia, an armed mob attacked an Ahmadiyah mosque in South Jakarta last Friday. This was yet another wound for the Ahmadis, who have experienced hundreds of attacks in various places.

Our government seems reluctant to act on behalf of these minorities.

No one is ever convicted for ransacking and destroying Ahmadi mosques or homes.

It is not surprising to me because in 2008 the minister of religious affairs, the home minister and the attorney general essentially “endorsed” such actions by placing the blame on Ahmadis for failing to halt their religious activities.

Cabinet ministers even provided a “solution” to end the controversy by enacting a 2008 joint ministerial decree that prohibits Ahmadis from performing their religious services in public, because Ahmadiyah is considered a deviant sect of Islam.

Furthermore, the government is now discussing strengthening the legal status of the decree by turning it into state legislation (Undang-undang ).

Rights activists claim that such actions violate freedom of religion.

This has become a hot topic. Does the government have the right to interfere with a citizen’s private beliefs?

This kind of dispute does not just happen in Indonesia.

In the United States, the proselytizing of the Jehovah’s Witnesses sect has been restricted, partly because the group bans blood transfusions for its members, which has led to an outcry over children’s health.

The legalization of gay marriage in the United States is another case, as is the ban on wearing the full Islamic veil in public in France.

Nevertheless, I believe that in some cases the state does have the discretion to interfere with private beliefs to promote a broader “good” and to maintain order as a nation in general.

But what our government has forgotten is the role of explaining and justifying a given action that might be for the good of society.

The government, in deciding to restrict Ahmadiya’s actions, is acting on the basis of “good” religious doctrine.

The action was taken merely because Ahmadiyah tenets contradict the majority view of Islam.

The United States and France both use this discretion largely on the basis of health, security, community standards or nationalism rather than religious values.

Is this a sounder public justification?

Professor Gerald F. Gaus, from the University of Pittsburgh (Value and Justification: 1990), argues that in order to create public justification, a state action must be neutral toward different conceptions of the good.

A ban on the Jehovah’s Witnesses in the US state of Ohio was overturned in court because there was no sufficient public justification and it was deemed unconstitutional.

Public justification plays an indispensable role in the practice of democratic citizenship.

For Indonesia, which often goes on about its being the world’s third-biggest democracy, this requirement is extremely important.

If the term “public justification” seems too abstract, just ask the three ministers who enacted the joint decree how they would feel if the state used its power to prevent them from doing something they believed to be essential to their quality of life, without providing an adequate reason.

The use of coercive power itself is suspect in this case.

The “joint ministerial decree” is unknown in our legal hierarchy.

But the government is adamant this action is necessary to maintain “public order.”

Under the doctrine of separation of powers, it is the task of the courts to balance the state’s interest in restricting Ahmadiyah’s actions against the group’s inherent right to practice its beliefs.

It is imperative for the judges to make sure that the state is not acting for the wrong reasons and has provided a public justification for its action.

However, it is also true that in April 2010, the Constitutional Court declined to void the 1965 Blasphemy Law, which serves as the basis for the government entering the domain of religion.

The court rejected a motion for a judicial review, lodged by former President Abdurrahman Wahid and others, on the ground that the state needs to have this discretion to prevent turmoil and anarchy.

What makes it more confusing is that the joint ministerial decree cannot itself be tested in court.

Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mahfud MD was quoted as saying that the vague status of the decree makes it hard to challenge.

The bottom line is that our “third-largest democracy” has failed to produce a sufficient public justification for the use of its political power against a minority religion.

From what I understand, in a democracy, the citizen is entitled to an explanation when the state uses its power of coercion.

Where in the world is our principle of due process of law?

Aristo Pangaribua is a Jakarta-based lawyer and chairman of Pemuda Indonesia Progresif. He can be reached at www.progresif.net.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/commentary/wheres-the-...-ahmadiyah/410838

Riot Threatens to Burn Down Orphanage

Headlines

Riot Threatens to Burn Down Orphanage

“Why does it matter for them if the building is used for praying?”

Ismoko WidjayaKamis, 9 Desember 2010, 10:59 WIB

Ahmadiyah Spokesperson Zafrullah Ahmad Pontoh (Antara/ Maulana Surya Tri Utama)

VIVAnews - An orphanage belonging to a modern Islamic group Ahmadiyah which is situated in Cicariang, Kawalu, Tasikmalaya, West Java, is threatened to be burnt down by riot. Hasanah Kautsar orphanage has been in the area for around 10 years.

“It’s already inhuman to lock us up in the orphanage not to mention burning [the orphanage] down,” said spokesperson of Ahmadiyah, Zafrullah Ahmad Pontoh, today, Dec 8.

According to Zafrullah, the occurrence took place yesterday as a handful of state officials tried to seal the building. Children of 10-14 years of age were still inside the building when the officials locked the gate.

“A few minutes after, a group of people shouted outside of the complex saying that they wanted to set the orphanage on fire. It’s a social house. We don’t understand their logic,” he said.

The building was owned by a member of Ahmadiyah living in Tasikmalaya. “It’s home of some orphans as well. Why does it matter for them if the building is used for praying?“ he said.

In the meantime, Kawalu and Tasikmalaya police departments have yet to share any information.

Earlier, Minister of Religious Affairs, Suryadharma Ali, requested Ahmadiyah to disband the group. According to Suryadharma, Ahmadiyah has been against a Joint Decree of Three Ministers.

“Ahmadiyah should be disassembled as soon as possible. Otherwise, more problems will keep on appearing,” Suryadharma said on August 30, 2010.

URL: http://en.vivanews.com/news/read/192873-riot-threatens-to-burn-down-orphanage

Ahmadiyah mosque attacked for fun: Police

CITY Sat, 12/04/2010 1:47 PM

Ahmadiyah mosque attacked for fun: Police

The Jakarta Post

JAKARTA: Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Sutarman speculates that the perpetrators of a Friday attack on the Al Hidayah Ahmadiyah Mosque in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, committed the violence for fun.

“They probably did it just for fun,” Sutarman told journalists Friday, adding that the police would hunt down whoever was responsible for the attack.

“The police are still investigating the case,” he added.

A group of unidentified men attacked the Ahmadiyah mosque early Friday morning. No fatalities were reported, but facilities such as lamps and window panes were smashed.

Mosque security chief Deden Sudjana said “the attackers claimed to be from the Majelis Pembela Rasulullah [Rasulullah Defender’s Council].”

The attack lasted less than a minute, he said, adding that the men were armed with swords and machetes.

“Police officers have been stationed at the mosque since last week to prevent attacks similar to those at Ahmadiyah mosques in Bogor [West Java] and Warakas [North Jakarta],” Deden said, as quoted by tribunnews.com news portal.

Police fired warning shots to disperse the attackers but made no arrests, he said. — JP

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/12/04/ahmadiyah-mosque-attacked-fun-police.html

Jakarta Police Help Repel Attack on Ahmadiyah Mosque

TOP STORIES

Jakarta Police Help Repel Attack on Ahmadiyah Mosque

Arientha Primanita, Nivell Rayda & Zaky Pawas | December 04, 2010

Jakarta. A group of about 50 people, dressed in white robes and wielding weapons, attempted to attack an Ahmadiyah mosque in South Jakarta early on Friday morning, but they were chased off with help from police officers.

Firdaus Mubarik, spokesman for the South Jakarta branch of Ahmadiyah, said the congregation was warned by police of the impending attack.

A number of members, along with three police officers, stood guard over the Al Hidayah Mosque off Jalan Ciputat Raya in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta.

“At 12:37 a.m., 50 people came to the mosque wearing white clothing and wielding sharp weapons like samurai,” he said.

Firdaus said the police fired six warning shots, causing the group to scatter. “The whole incident took about 10 seconds. It was recorded on our CCTV.”

The footage showed the group was mostly made up of teenagers armed with wooden canes and iron bars.

One assailant tried to pick up a rock while another attempted to climb the gates before the pack panicked and fled.

Seconds later, police and civilians were seen chasing the mob away.

One man from the group was detained and taken to the Kebayoran Lama Police station.

Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Sutarman pledged firm action against the perpetrators.

The damage from the attack was fairly minor, but pluralism advocates are more worried about what the attack means.

“This is proof that intolerance is really happening in the capital,” said Ismail Hasani, a researcher for the Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy, which recently released a survey showing that 45.4 percent of respondents from Greater Jakarta wanted the Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect, disbanded.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/jakarta-police-...ah-mosque/410021

Update: Indonesia Police Warn Ahmadiyah of Fresh Attack

TOP STORIES

Update: Indonesia Police Warn Ahmadiyah of Fresh Attack

Arientha Primanita | December 03, 2010

An Ahmadiyah congregation in South Jakarta holding Friday prayers after their mosque was attacked early Friday morning. (JG Photo/Arientha Primanita)

Jakarta. Despite warnings from police that a second attack was being planned, members of the Ahmadiyah religious movement in South Jakarta went ahead with Friday prayers.

“We will keep doing our activities because it is only Allah we fear,” said Firdaus Mubarik, spokesman of the South Jakarta branch of Ahmadiyah.

A number of police officers had also been stationed at the Al Hidayah Mosque on Jalan Ciputat Raya in Kebayoran Lama.

The mosque was attacked shortly before 1 a.m. on Friday.

Firdaus said about 50 as yet unidentified people wearing white flowing robes, some of whom were armed with samurai swords and other weapons, before they scattered when police fired six warning shots in the air.

A window in the mosque was broken but no members of the congregation were injured.

One person has been taken into custody for questioning.

Last year, an unknown person or group attempted unsuccessfully to burn down the mosque.

Firdaus said they had only ever conducted their activities peacefully.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/update-indonesia-...-fresh-attack/409871

Armed group attacks Ahmadiyah mosque in Kebayoran Lama

JAKARTA Fri, 12/03/2010 3:15 PM

Armed group attacks Ahmadiyah mosque in Kebayoran Lama

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A group of unidentified men attacked Ahmadiah Mosque Al Hidayah in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, in the wee hours of Friday.

No fatalities were reported, but facilities such as lamps and window panes were smashed.

“The attackers claimed to be from the Majelis Pembela Rasulullah [Rasulullah Defender’s Council],” the mosque security head Deden Sudjana was quoted as saying by tribunnews.com news portal.

He added that the attack lasted less than a minute. The men were armed with swords and machetes.

“Police officers have been stationed at the mosque since last week to prevent attacks similar to those at Ahmadiyah mosques in Bogor [West Java] and Warakas [North Jakarta],” he said.

He said police fired warning shots to disperse the attackers but made no arrests.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/12/03/armed-group-...-kebayoran-lama.html

Mob Attacks Ahmadiyah Mosque in South Jakarta

NEWS

Mob Attacks Ahmadiyah Mosque in South Jakarta

Jakarta Globe | December 03, 2010

Al Hidayah Mosque on Jalan Ciputat Raya in Kebayoran Lama, Jakart, Indonesia

Jakarta. In the latest example of religious intolerance in Indonesia, a group of unknown people attacked an Ahmadiyah mosque in South Jakarta early on Friday morning.

The sword-wielding assailants smashed the windows of the Al Hidayah Mosque on Jalan Ciputat Raya in Kebayoran Lama and left. No injuries were reported.

Mubarik, spokesman for Jakarta’s Ahmadiyah community, confirmed the attack.

Police are yet to comment.

In October, a mob of hundreds ransacked and burned down houses, schools and a mosque in Cisalada village, home to 600 followers of the minority sect, which is deemed deviant by many mainstream Muslims.

Last November, a group of conservative Muslims held a rally at an Ahmadiyah mosque in North Jakarta.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/mob-at...-jakarta/409866

Indonesian Team to Move Out Ahmadiyah of Lombok

NEWS

Indonesian Team to Move Out Ahmadiyah of Lombok

Fitri | December 01, 2010

Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara. Authorities in West Lombok district have formed a special team to supervise and relocate members of the Ahmadiyah sect, an official said on Wednesday.

M.S. Udin, an assistant to the district chief, said officials meeting on Tuesday evening agreed to set up a nine-man team to deal with the minority Islamic group, whose members were forced out of Gegerung village in Lingsar subdistrict by mainstream Muslims opposed to their beliefs.

Udin said the team would oversee the sale of Ahmadiyah property and make sure the sect members received compensation.

The team will also begin the process of moving Ahmadiyah families. It is currently looking at a proposal to move them to the coastal Sekotong subdistrict.

He said the Ahmadis would also be required to report to officials whenever they returned to the village to work their fields.

“It would be impossible to restrict them from making a living by working their own land. Many of them still own land in [Gegerung’s] Ketapang hamlet,” he said.

“But to be safe, they should report to the [security] coordination post that they are returning to Ketapang — not to live [there], but to work their fields.”

“These Ahmadis are still convinced they will be able to return to Ketapang and that there will be no problem,” Udin added. “But if residents heard they were back, there would be new problems, destruction of property and more.”

Tuesday’s meeting of officials was held in Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara, and was attended by Ahmadiyah leaders, security officials, prosecutors and district heads.

In addition to Udin, the nine-man team will include representatives of the National Land Agency (BPN), the district secretary, head of the district’s assets unit, the Lingsar subdistrict chief, the Gegerung village head and security officials.

Zaini Arony, the head of West Lombok district, will meet with the Ahmadis — who have been living in temporary shelters since being chased from their village — to discuss the relocation plan.

Zauji, the head of the Ahmadiyah’s provincial chapter who attended Tuesday’s meeting, said the group’s members wanted “legal clarity” on the issue of the destruction of their homes and assurances that they would be protected from further violence and intimidation.

“Whatever the decision, it will have nothing to do with the organization. [Officials] will have to deal with the Ahmadiyah members directly,” he said. “We will leave it to them to decide.”

Zulhair, an Ahmadi who has lived in a hajj transit building in Mataram since 2006, said he wanted to go home. “If I could, I want to return to my house in Ketapang. That is my personal wish.”

He said it was difficult for Ahmadis to trust an administration that had repeatedly failed to protect them from attacks.

Many mainstream Muslims view Ahmadiyah as a deviant sect because they believe its members recognize the sect’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, as the last prophet.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/indonesian-team-to...lombok/409582

Looking the Other Way When It Comes to Indonesia’s Ahmadis

OPINION

Looking the Other Way When It Comes to Indonesia’s Ahmadis

Firdaus Mubarik | November 21, 2010

On Oct. 1 in Bogor, an Ahmadiyah mosque and 28 houses were destroyed, looted and burned. Fifty Korans were burned during the assault on Cisalada village, home to 600 people. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono scarcely reacted. It was a far cry from several months earlier, when an American pastor made plans to burn the Koran in Florida and Yudhoyono immediately wrote to US President Barack Obama and held a press conference to protest the action.

The problem is that the government never seriously prosecutes perpetrators of violence against the Ahmadiyah.

In one case in 2002, more than 300 Ahmadis fled their homes in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, when their homes were burned down.

The community was taken to Mataram, where they were attacked again in 2006.

On Friday, 50 followers of the sect were chased out of their homes. Now they live in a barracks, denied the right to return home.

Half a million of other Ahmadis in Indonesia live in fear. Attacks by Islamic extremists continue anywhere there are Ahmadis in Indonesia.

In West Java, violence has erupted in several districts: Bogor, Cianjur, Sukabumi, Garut, Tasikmalaya, Ciamis and Kuningan.

The same has occurred in Sumatra, Sulawesi, Maluku and Kalimantan.

In fact, there is no safe place for Ahmadis to worship in Indonesia. Freedom of religion in this country is increasingly threatened.

To legitimize their actions, attackers cite an Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) fatwa — promulgated in 1980 and strengthened in 2005 — which declared Ahmadiyah heretical and dangerous.

In Banjar, West Java, Sobri Lubis, one of the leaders of the radical Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) openly invites his people to kill followers of Ahmadiyah.

Police do nothing in response, just as they have done next to nothing about extremist action against Ahmadis elsewhere in the country.

In the 2006 Lombok case, police freed the people suspected of torching homes of the displaced Ahmadis.

In Bogor in September 2005, Encep Hernawan made the bold statement that he and his organization Gerakan Islam Reformis (Garis) were responsible for an attack on four mosques and 43 homes belonging to the Ahmadiyah community in Cianjur.

The act went unpunished.

In some cases, local governments facilitate the attackers and position the Ahmadis — who, under the Constitution, should be protected — as the cause of the problem.

They also sometimes legitimize acts of violence.

In Bogor, Garut, Tasikmalaya and Kuningan, local governments issued decrees banning Ahmadiyah, often including the MUI fatwas of 1980 and 2005 in their laws.

Religious Affairs Minister Surya Dharma Ali this year campaigned against Ahmadiyah, repeatedly saying that it was not part of Islam and he would ban the sect.

This policy follows similar action in Pakistan in 1974, when that country’s Constitution was amended to explicitly declare Ahmadis as non-Muslim minorities.

Rather than solve the problem, these actions have triggered a rise in attacks, arrests and killings of Ahmadiyah followers.

In recent times 86 Ahmadis died and more than 120 were injured in attack during Friday prayers at an Ahmadiyah mosque in Lahore.

Indonesia in 2005 ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Under the 1945 Constitution, the government should protect the freedom of religious choice and association.

But in fact a 1965 ordinance allows the government to prohibit a particular religion or faith.

This law also underlies a 2008 joint decree that prohibits the spread of Ahmadiyah teachings — said to be contrary to the majority’s understanding of Islam.

A report by the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace shows the violence continues to increase. In 2009, there were 33 cases of violence against Ahmadis — up from 15 in 2007.

A National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) team in 2006 thoroughly investigated the violence against Ahmadis on Lombok and in Kuningan.

It spoke of human rights violations, but unfortunately the team’s recommendations were not followed up by commission members.

There has been some progress, though.

This month police stopped 300 FPI members from attacking an Ahmadiyah mosque in Ciamis, West Java.

This strong action from the police clearly shows that the government has the ability and power to stop violence.

The government must revoke all ordinances and regulations that restrict the freedom of religion and worship and take decisive steps to ensure the safety of the Ahmadis.

People involved in violent acts against the community should be arrested and prosecuted.

Consistent, firm government action is the only way to stop the violence faced by minorities like the Ahmadis.

Firdaus Mubarik is a member of the Ahmadiyah community in Kebayoran, South Jakarta.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/looking-the-othe...as-ahmadis/407694