Ahmadiyah followers promised safe return home

---The Jakarta Post, Indonesia

The Archipelago | Sat, 04/15/2010 10:37 AM

Ahmadiyah followers promised safe return home
Panca Nugraha, The Jakarta Post, West Lombok

West Lombok regency administration told more than 100 Jamaah Ahmadiyah members currently taking refuge in Mataram to return home, saying they did not have to worry about their safety.

The 33 families (126 people) have been taking shelter in Wisma Transito building after their homes in Ketapang village, Gegerung subdistrict, were attacked by angry residents in 2006.

West Lombok Regent Zaini Arony said the Ahmadiyah members did not have to worry about their safety and could go back home.

“But they should assimilate with other residents. They should no longer live exclusively within their own group,” Zaini told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He said that the local administrations, from the regency to subdistrict levels, began dialogue with the families and also informed Ketapang residents of their return plan.

“They should not live exclusively as they did before as it is unfair on the other residents,” Zaini said.

He said that the administration had called on all residents to accept Ahmadiyah followers and let the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) decide whether they were right or wrong.

“As residents of West Lombok regency, they have the same rights to live securely in the region,” he said.

He added that based on a report from Gegerung subdistrict head, some Ahmadiyah followers had begun returning to their homes in Ketapang. However, Zaini admitted that the decision to send the refugees back home was made partly because it was impossible for the administration to compensate them for properties left in the village.

He said that the Ahmadiyah followers last year asked for Rp 700 million (US$77,700) in compensation for their 21 houses and land in Ketapang. They later increased their demand to Rp 1.5 billion, he added.

“We cannot meet their demand since the administration refers [compensation] to the NJOP,” he said, referring to the market value of the properties.

Separately, coordinators of the refugees, Syahidin, said that some Ahmadiyah members had visited their homes in Ketapang to find out the latest situation in the area.

“But we don’t have the courage to reside back there,” he said.

Ahmadiyah, whose members believe the last prophet was their founder, not the Prophet Muhammad, has been subject to several attacks across the country. [*]

The Indonesian Ulema Council first issued an edict in 1980 saying that Ahmadiyah was not Islamic, although the group, believed to number about 200,000 followers here, has been recognized as Islamic in Indonesia since 1953.

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

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/04/15/ahmadi...ome.html

Displaced Ahmadis losing hope for normal life

---The Jakarta Post, Indonesia

Headlines Thu, 01/07/2010 8:50 AM

Displaced Ahmadis losing hope for normal life

Panca Nugraha, The Jakarta Post, Mataram

After four years of living in limbo at the Wisma Transito shelter in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), dozens of families from Jamaah Ahmadiyah say they are losing hope of a return to normal life and freedom from refugee status.

“I hope to be able to return to my place of origin, but I feel it’s becoming more difficult now. After living as a refuge for almost four years, we are even regarded as non-existent,” Ahmadiyah refugee Zuhaer Majid, 44, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

A group of housewives were in a makeshift kitchen when the Post visited the camp. Some toddlers played on the verandah, while others ate lunch. One plate of fried rice was shared between four.

“The price of rice has surged to Rp 7,500 [75 US cents] a kilogram. We have to be frugal. The important thing is to feed our children,” said a 28-year old mother of two, Nuraini.

Nuraini’s husband Zuhri, 34, helps out at a food stall and earns Rp 15,000 per day. The couple must make sure this is enough for food and pocket money for their eldest child who is in fourth grade.

The local social welfare office stopped providing the refugees with assistance (in the form of rice and side dishes) in the mid 2008, and the group has had to struggle to make ends meet ever since.

The other 33 refugee families, comprising at least 126 people staying at the Wisma Transito shelter camp.

The Ahmadiyah refugees also stopped receiving rice from the rice-for-the-poor program. Tapped water is restricted at the shelter. Power supplies were cut six months ago because of the group’s outstanding electricity bills.

The dozens of elementary students learning there have had to study only during daylight hours because of the lack of lighting at night, except for candles and kerosene lamps.

On Feb. 4, 2009, the group will have been enduring at the shelter camp for exactly four years since being forced by a Muslim mob from their homes in Ketapang hamlet, West Lombok, in early 2006.

The Ahmadiyah refugees live in three 20-by-8-meter barracks at the shelter. The rooms for each family, measuring 2.5-by-3 meters each, are only divided by cloth, used banners and sarongs tied up with plastic string.

The NTB provincial administration stopped providing relief aid to the refugees since the middle of 2008, but has also not given them permission to return to their village.

The refugees have taken up odd jobs, working, for example, as builders or vendors to meet their basic needs.

According to refugee coordinator Syahidin, four people have died at the shelter since they moved there, and 11 babies have been born.

Various efforts have been made to resolve the issue. In their latest effort, the Ahmadis appealed to the Mataram mayor for permission to live within the city, but he has not responded yet.

“We have abided by the joint-ministerial decree banning Ahmadiyah activities, expressed the syahadat confession of faith in public proving we are also Muslim, but why is our status still unclear?” Syahidin said.

In March 2009, 17 Ahmadiyah families took the initiative to return to their village, but shelved the plan because the NTB provincial administration and West Lombok regency administrations promised to compensate them for their properties in Ketapang, so that they would not return, but move elsewhere.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01....e-normal-life.html