Solidarity versus resentment

Solidarity versus resentment

by Taha Kehar
Friday, 20 August 2010

Pakistanis today need solidarity and a clear understanding of the Islamic democracy Jinnah had envisioned. PHOTO: AFP

At a Press Conference at New Delhi, on July 14, 1947, Jinnah was grilled by a correspondent who wished to inquire as to whether Pakistan would be a secular state or a theocracy.

Jinnah hinted at the absurdity of the question, adding, quite tactfully, that he did ‘not know what a theocratic state’ meant. The correspondent had then fervidly suggested that it was ‘a state where only people of a particular religion, for example, Muslims, could be full citizens and non-Muslims would not be full citizens’. Apprised with this vision of a theocracy, Jinnah aptly stated that ‘when you talk of democracy, I am afraid you have not studied Islam – we learned democracy thirteen centuries ago.’

However, it seems as though Islam in Pakistan has lost its democratic appeal for even though minority rights have been safeguarded, the Muslim community has failed to preserve the rights of the Ahmadis. Glaring illustrations of this claim are the events that led up to the declaration of Martial Law in Lahore in 1953 and, more recently, the attack on an Ahmadiyya mosque in Lahore on the May 28, 2010. This exhibits the dwindling solidarity of the Muslim community and serves to further demonstrate that insurgency in the troubled North-western wing of Pakistan has taught us zilch. What ideological justification is there for those who share a creed to fight one another? An astute observer would put forth three deep-set explanations:

1) The war on terror
2) Assailing the extremist elements and providing a scope for moderation
3) Eternal Peace

What is striking to note is that all these justifications are fundamentally interlinked. The first rationale is an oft-touted ploy which ironically contradicts the second line of reason. As for the third reason, it is purely optimistic and therefore unlikely to be attained any time soon.

Then why is it that the Islamic democracy which Jinnah alluded to at that press conference all those summers ago has grown stale? Have we become theocratic in a unique sense? Are we assaulting the integrity of the minority sections within our own ravaged Muslim euphoria or have we become overly generous to the religious and cultural minorities at the expense of our own marginalised factions?

The explanation is far more intricate than one would assume. It is laden with ‘grey areas’ as opposed to the standard ‘black and white’. Hence, it is apt for the reader to have the final word. But prior to that, it is essential to note that Jinnah’s vision was one of diversity. His advocacy for religious tolerance was not purely restricted to minority groups. He wanted for us to delve deeper and understand its intrinsic worth so that one day the Muslim community can counterbalance its ideological variations and extend its acceptance of conflicting points of view to people of all religious persuasions with poise. Perhaps that would be a more suitable strategy for acquisition of world peace, moderation and the age-old democratic principles of Islam.

URL: http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/1137/solidarity-versus-resentment/

Notorious Indonesian Cleric Arrested on Terrorism Charges

Indonesia

Notorious Indonesian Cleric Arrested on Terrorism Charges

August 09, 2010

Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has reportedly been arrested on terrorism charges. (JG Photo/Ali Lutfi)

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Jakarta. A lawyer says radical Indonesian Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has been arrested on charges of terrorism.

Muhammad Ali says his client was taken in early on Monday for alleged involvement with a new militant network in Indonesia’s westernmost province of Aceh.

Bashir is best known as the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. He spent several years in prison for his involvement with the group, but was released in 2006.

Ali said Monday’s arrest took place in West Java’s Ciamis district.

Wahyudin, director of the Bashir’s controversial Al Mukmin Islamic boarding school in Central Java, told the Jakarta Globe that his wife, Muslihah, and Bashir’s wife, Aisyah, were also possibly taken into custody.

Abdurrachim, Bashir’s son, confirmed that his father, as well as Muslihah and Aisyah, had been arrested.

He said he was told by his father’s personal assistant, Widodo, who was also taken into custody.

“The police have not contacted us, let alone submit a warrant for the arrest. I have called the Muslim Defenders Team [TPM] to take legal steps” he said.

He said the students at Al Mukmin in Ngruki, Sukoharjo, Central Java, were calm despite the arrest their “role models.”

Sonhadi, secretary of Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), an organization established by Bashir to push for the implementation of Shariah law throughout Indonesia, told the Globe that they were meeting with TPM.

“We want the police to act fairly and uphold justice,” Sonhadi said. “Until now we haven’t received any confirmation from the police on why Bashir was arrested, what charges he have been accused of and why police failed to send a summons.”

He said he suspected there were “people who do not want peace.”

“This is a provocation ahead of Ramadan.”

The police are expected to give a press conference later today.

On Saturday, police arrested five suspects and seized high-explosive materials in separate anti-terror raids in several areas in West Java province.

The target of the alleged terror plots was not immediately clear, but Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Saturday said the police had foiled a terror plot against him as he visited the province.

Bashir, 71, served almost 26 months for conspiracy over the 2002 terror attacks on Bali nightspots that killed more than 200 people, before being cleared and released in 2006.

He is known for his hard-line rhetoric and was accused of providing spiritual leadership to the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror group, a claim he denies.

In an exclusive interview with the Jakarta Globe in May, the elderly cleric said he was constantly being monitored by the police and military.

“They follow wherever I go and when I give lectures at mosques. They want to narrow down my movements. But they do not interfere with my family.”

Agencies/JG

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/breaking-news...rorism-charges/390216

Indonesian Ahmadiyah Members Mark Fifth Ramadan in Limbo

Indonesia

Indonesian Ahmadiyah Members Mark Fifth Ramadan in Limbo

Tangguh | August 08, 2010

Ahmadiyah members, whose homes were razed by angry villagers in 2006, at the Transito temporary camp in Mataram. JG Photo/Tangguh

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Lombok. For four years and five months, 33 Ahmadiyah families have been staying at the Transito shelter in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, after having been driven from their homes.

The families ended up here in February 2006 after their neighbors in Lingsar Barat village, West Lombok district, turned on them during the height of the anti-Ahmadiyah sentiment that was sweeping the country at the time. The families’ homes were razed.

Most mainstream Muslims oppose the Ahmadiyah sect because its members believe that its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was a prophet.

“We just want to go back home,” a spokesman for the group, Dzulkhair Mujip, tells the Jakarta Globe. “No matter how nice a place is, it’s still not home.”

The group has several times announced its plan to return to its home village. Each time, it has been stayed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the police, who claim such a move would threaten the peace that the families’ expulsion has brought to their village.

Like other Indonesian Muslims, these Ahmadiyah members are looking forward to Ramadan, which begins on Wednesday.

Unlike most Muslims, however, the 137 people here will be forced to spend the holy month at this “temporary” refuge for a fifth straight year.

Despite everything, Dzulkhair says, the Ahmadiyah will not let the situation sully their Ramadan, which they cherish as a chance to get closer to God.

There is not much they can do to prepare, he points out, except figure out how to accommodate everyone in the tiny local mosque for the obligatory evening prayers during the holy month.

The group has also been without electricity for the past six months after failing to pay the bill for the shelter, which the government is supposed to be managing for them.

Dzulkhair says that during the refugees’ stay in Mataram, they have been treated as second-class citizens. They are denied ID cards that are obligatory for all Indonesian citizens.

“None of us here has a driver’s license, because to get one you have to have an ID card, which we don’t have,” Dzulkhair says.

He adds that this problem extends to other civic documents, such as marriage licenses and birth certificates.

Couples from the community who want to marry must do so without official state permission, which several Islamic organizations frown upon. This perpetuates a vicious circle of animosity directed at the Ahmadiyah members.

For the first two years of their stay in Mataram, the group members received a stipend of rice and cash from the Social Welfare Ministry. However, that aid dried up in mid-2008 when the ministry said they were no longer eligible for it, without explaining why.

Dzulkhair says he and several other Ahmadiyah representatives have repeatedly tried to get the West Lombok administration to clarify their legal status, but to no avail.

“The regional administration keeps telling us to take it up with the provincial government, and the provincial administration passes us back off to the West Lombok administration,” he says.

“We’re being tossed around like a bunch of playthings, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Dzulkhair also tells of persistent threats group members have received from local Islamic hard-liners, although the shows of aggression are not as vicious or public as they used to be.

Yet Dzulkhair adds that despite these challenges, the group is still trying to lead a normal life.

Most of the adults are employed as manual laborers, farmhands and vendors — anything that helps put food on the table and keeps the children in school, Dzulkhair says.

Hafiz Kidratullah, 12, says he had to repeat a whole year at school because of the disruption to his studies caused by the move to the Mataram shelter.

His father, Hairuddin, ekes out a living selling plastic bags at a local market.

Another parent, Yunus, says he sells tapes at Mataram’s Pangesangan Market. He makes around Rp 30,000 ($3) a day.

“At least I have a job, that’s what really matters,” he says.

What these Ahmadiyah members want more than ever, Dzulkhair and the others say, is for the government to tell them where they stand, especially in relation to their home village.

The Ahmadiyah members say they are willing to make a permanent home at the Transito shelter, but only if the government allows them basic civic rights like the right to get an ID card, Dzulkhair says.

He adds the group has lost all faith in the district and provincial administrations, and has now pinned all its hopes on the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

“Our last hope is the central government, is the president himself,” he says.

“Hopefully amid his important duties managing the nation’s problems, he can spare a thought for us out here in Transito.”

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indone...adan-in-limbo/390177

Tolerance for our inner terrorist

Blogs

Tolerance for our inner terrorist

by Rabia Mehmood
Monday, 05 July 2010

‘Data Sahib’ was a place which represented religious harmony

I might get my share of hate mail if this piece finds it way online and people read it. Actually, I wanted to claim responsibility for the attacks. I want to share some burden. I want to say that what happened at the Data Darbar was our own doing, we the people of Pakistan brought it upon us.

Living in a society which openly engages in discourse where those who have different religious beliefs will always be vulnerable to a death wish… where they would always be ‘waajib-ul-qatal’… what else could we possibly expect? I mean it is OK as long as the people who are victimized in the name of religion are Christians or Ahmadis for that matter. No? How many of these maulanas demanding mass resignations from the government in the aftermath of the attacks of Data Darbar actually condemned the May 28 attacks? Not even one representative of these jamaats… not even for the sake of appearances, they simply did not care, they never gave two hoots as to when those who represent the other are affected. And the only incident of violence towards Christians condemned by the maulanas was the Gojra Riots. However, the reason why Christians were attacked in the first place was never addressed by them.

So, I would say they encouraged the terrorist. They allowed him to think that he can get away with attacking others for their beliefs, even attacking the Data Sahib as we call it here in Lahore, the only place which represents the harmony of Aunnis, Deobandis, Shias, Wahabis (yes even Wahabis, I know some who go there for a prayer or two) Ahmadis, Christians and Hindus in this country.

For how long have we been persecuting people in the name of religion in this country? Decades. And known terrorist attacks are not the only incidents. Every other month in some remote or not-so-remote town of Punjab there is a 60 yr old Christian woman, a 19-year-old Christian man, a 14-year-old Ahmadi kid who is taken into police custody and tortured for alleged blasphemy.

We are a country that thrives on religious intolerance, we are insecure and indifferent to others pain. And to top it all we have discriminatory laws which are practiced religiously. I know bashing 295 C is an old tradition of the English press which has apparently never made a difference. I know so many English speaking, reading, writing people who also thought that Ahmadis ‘asked for it’ on May 28. So many among our educated class condemned the riots in Gojra but never questioned the absurdity of reason for provocation behind the instigation of the attacks i.e. alleged blasphemy by elders and children of a Christian family. That part just got lost in translating the condemnation by the governments and the so-called religious jamaats.

Now, I feel like questioning every person who, after the May 28 attacks on Ahmadis said ‘Well, now these Ahmadis will find a new to get ‘funding’ from their ‘foreign sources’ or that ‘They were involved in the campaig for lifting the facebook ban” and then those who thought they simply deserved to die… yes, hate speech but all true … or take a soundbyte from those who devotedly support the blasphemy law and say that Gojra was a foreign conspiracy or initiated by a new wave of post-9/11 terrorism. Who amongst us is innocent of the bigotry we have always directed towards the religious minorities.

I understand the popular argument that the ‘Salafi’ school has an anti-Sufism agenda. But this does not mean that the Salafi school has managed to oppress the Sufi and remaining schools of thoughts of Pakistan and forced its own supporters to measure their love for Islam by how many non-Muslims do they count as ‘wajib-ul-qatal.”

While prejudice is ingrained in most of us, the Punjab police and government appear to be very tolerant. They know all about the existence of seminaries where ‘what the Pakistani media calls terrorism and is actually jihad” is taught openly but do not conduct crackdowns. It must be tolerance, right? Last month when two low intensity bombs exploded right outside the shrine of Baba Noori Bori Waali Sarkaar in a Lahore suburbs, the SHO continued to deny the explosions and told the media that it was just a mild gas leakage. Of course, he did not think it was a big deal.

URL: http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/408/tolerance-for-our-inner-terrorist/

Pakistan history, distorted by the literalists

Blogs

Pakistan history, distorted by the literalists

by Dr.Shams Hamid
Tuesday, 29 June 2010

Literalists have always invented Islam depriving it of universalism

Recently released, the Brookings Institute report claims that the real cause of militancy in Pakistan is the public education system, and not religious schools (madrssas) because the majority of Pakistani students attend public school whereas only ten per cent attend madrassas. It states that Pakistani public schools disseminate militancy, hatred, jihad and distort history.

Until 1970, despite bureaucratic and military dictatorships, the Pakistani educational curriculum and textbooks, for example, had included the history of the Maurya and Gupta dynasties of the sub-continent conforming to the secular ideals of Pakistan clearly expressed by Mohammad Ali Jinnah in his speech to the constituent Assembly on 11th August 1947. Mohammad Ali Jinnah said:

“We are starting with the fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal Citizens of one state … Now I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal, and you will find that in the course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual but in the sense as citizens of the state. …You may belong to any caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the state.”

Mohammad Ali Jinnah never used the term ‘Ideology of Pakistan’ during the struggle for independence nor after independence. Mohammad Ali Jinnah sternly scolded a prominent leader of Muslim League Raja Sahab Mahmudabad when he wrote to the historian Mohibul Hassan in 1939 that we want the dictatorship of Koranic laws. Sharifuddin Pirzada documented another failed attempt of an Abdul Hameed Kazi to propose a bill to create Pakistan as an Islamic state in All India Muslim League’s 1943 session.

“The Quaid-i-Azam never used the words ‘Ideology of Pakistan’ … For fifteen years after the establishment of Pakistan, the Ideology of Pakistan was not known to anybody until in 1962 a solitary member of the Jama’at-I-Islami used the words for the first time when the Political Parties Bill was being discussed. On this, Chaudhry Fazal Elahi, [who later became Pakistan’s president during Z. A. Bhutto’s regime], rose from his seat and objected that the ‘Ideology of Pakistan’ shall have to be defined. The member who had proposed the original amendment replied that the ‘Ideology of Pakistan was Islam’.”

The three rigid religious political parties Jamiat-i-Ulama-i-Hind, the Majlis-i-Ahrar and Jamat-e-Islami were opposed to Muslim league and the demand for an independent Pakistan. In Punjab Majlis-i-Ahrar exploited Islamic ideology to defeat Muslim League in pre-partition election of 1945 calling Muslim League leaders ‘Kafirs’ and opposing their demand for a separate state.

Ironically, the term “Ideology of Pakistan” was also first coined and used by Jamat-e-Islami who were against the creation of Pakistan and they did not participate with the Muslim League in the movement for the independence of Pakistan.

After the independence of Pakistan, Jamat-e-Islami established its Pakistan chapter claiming that Pakistan was created for Muslims to live according to Islamic Shariah. Jamat-e-Islami even forgets that the Ahmadiya community supported Independence of Pakistan after Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s assurance that Pakistan will be a modern Muslim state, neutral on sectarian matters (Report of the Court of Inquiry, 1954: 196). However, Jamat-e-Islami Pakistan still cannot justify their opposition to the creation of Pakistan if it was being created only for Muslims to practice the literalist interpretation of Islam.

In late 1970’s, after the fall of East Pakistan, the Pakistani educational system began to implement the Islamisation project based on the literalist interpretation of Islam practiced by a very small percentage of the Muslim population. Jamat-e-Islami and other religious political parties championed the Islamisation project. This is a shameful testimonial to the twisted logic of the handful of Muslim literalists.

The unholy alliance of 1980s, between the dictatorial military regime of Pakistan under General Zia-ul-Haq, the unelected literalist religious political party Jamat-e-Islami and American government, cemented Islamisation of all Pakistani institutions including public educational institutions. The national education policy was Islamised in accordance with the narrow literal interpretation of Islam. The national educational curriculum was revised and textbooks were re-written to re-invent Pakistan as a purely religious society only for Muslim citizens.

Syed Abul A’la Maudoodi of Jama’at-e-Islami prescribed that all educational subjects should be taught from the perspective of the literal interpretation of Quran. Maudoodi did not accept the distinction between the religious and the non-religious worldly disciplines of education.

“In the teaching material, no concept of separation between the worldly and the religious be given; rather all the material be presented from the Islamic point of view.” (Curriculum Document, Primary Education, Class K-V, 1995, p. 41.)

The Sustainable Development Policy Institute found four major themes emerging strongly from their analysis of the curricula and textbooks of the three compulsory subjects:

“1. that Pakistan is for Muslims alone; 2. that Islamic teachings, including a compulsory reading and memorisation of Qur’an, are to be included in all the subjects, hence to be forcibly taught to all the students, whatever their faith; 3. that Ideology of Pakistan is to be internalized as faith, and that hate be created against Hindus and India; and 4. students are to be urged to take the path of Jehad and Shahadat.”

Literalists have always invented Islam depriving it of universalism and divesting its teachings of its historic context. ‘Pakistan ideology’ is also a case of their figment of imagination that has no basis in Pakistani history.

Islam has multiple interpretations and only one of those interpretations, i.e., the literalist interpretation of Islam, is fatalistic and anti-humanistic. However, there are only a few Muslims who accept or live by the literalists’ interpretation of Islam, whereas more than 95 per cent of Muslims consciously reject the literalist interpretation of Islam.

Literalists themselves fail in avoiding contradictions in their own literal interpretation in their attitude and lifestyle. Zakir Naik, an Indian Muslim preacher of these parochial views of unequal human rights for men, women and for people of different faith has recently been restricted from giving a speech in UK and Canada but he is fighting against this verdict on the grounds of freedom of speech and equal human rights. They are not ready to allow equal human rights in their society while shamelessly demanding it from the secular societies.

These literalists simultaneously benefit from all the modern technologies, like getting photographed, using phones, watching television, flying in airplane, using western banking and so on; and criticise them all for being ‘non-Islamic’ and ‘secular’.

Literalists have a very small following because most people find it difficult to live in bad faith with a false consciousness, i.e. believing in one thing and doing its opposite. They have changed already, they should understand and accept it. The idea of a return is impossible; you cannot travel back in history.

Pakistani public education needs to focus on re-designing its curriculum, re-writing and reconstructing teaching material including textbooks and constructing a non-violent, democratic learning environment in the public schools to disseminate tolerant views and employment-oriented education.

URL: http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/327/pakistan-history-distorted-by-the-literalists/

Indonesia: Alliance plans to propose review of blasphemy law

---The Jakarta Post, Indonesia

National Sat, 09/26/2009 12:06 PM

Alliance plans to propose review of blasphemy law

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Alliance for the Freedom of Religion and Faith (AKKBB) has planned to file a request with the Constitutional Court to review the 1965 blasphemy law which they say is discriminatory and against the amended 1945 Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion in the country.

The alliance comprising of, among others, the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP), Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), the Wahid Institute and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) said the law had raised a public outcry and triggered sectarian conflicts as people were required to accept only the six official religions - Islam, Catholic, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and Kong Hu Chu - and those with different faiths were branded heretics.

“We are in the process of completing the necessary documents to be given to the Constitutional Court,” AKKBB coordinator Anick Hamim Tohari said here last week.

The 1965 law on the prevention of religion abuse and blasphemy stipulates that no one is allowed make interpretations deviating from the official religions’ teachings. Anick, executive director of ICRP too, said the alliance had formed a small team who was still preparing the judicial review proposal and supporting documentation.

Febi Yonesta of the LBH Jakarta said the official request for the judicial review would be filed as soon as the documents were complete.

Ahmadiyah and Lia Eden were two Muslim communities that have been rejected because their teaching and doctrine were different to what has been designated official Islamic teaching and doctrine. Many mosques belonging to the two communities have been burned down and their followers displaced from their villages in the West Java regencies of Bogor, Sukabumi and Kuningan, and Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara.

Ahmadiyah is a religious sect whose teachings are claimed to be heretical by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and who have been attacked by various Muslim groups. Last year, the government made the decision that Ahmadiyah members were allowed to perform their religious activities but banned them from proselytizing new believers. The decision was made based on the law on religious blasphemy.

Lia Eden is a sect leader who has been sentenced to prison for religious blasphemy. “The law is the foundation of article 156 of the Criminal Code Law which criminalizes many religious minorities. Lia Eden has been charged under this article.

“Our constitution guarantees religious freedom. All religious groups deserve equal treatment. Therefore, this law which gives the government the power to intervene in religious matters must be annulled,” Anick said, referring to the 2008 joint ministerial decree barring Ahmadiyah from disseminating its teaching.

Febi said the Alliance had been planning to ask for the judicial review since 2005. “However, we had many considerations to take into account which postponed the plan.” He said in 2005, the situation was very tense and many groups were showing great resentment against religious sects. “We do not want to raise controversies and conflicts. We want the Constitutional Court to be able to decide on the review with a clear conscience. We do not want any political pressure to affect the legal process,” he said.

He said in the past, a believer of an unofficial religion must declare themselves a believer of one of the official religions in the religion section of his or her identity card. “However, the 2006 administration law allows them not to fill in the religion column,” Febi said.

“We hope if the 1965 law is annulled, all laws and regulations which take reference from this law will be applied without discriminating against any religious group,” said Feby.

Anick said the alliance’s top priority was to annul the terminology of official religions.

“Other laws and regulations, such as the marriage law, the population administration law, the joint ministerial decree which regulates houses of worship building permits also took the official religions from this law,” he said, adding that, to be consistent with the decree, the state did not recognize marriages between believers of different faiths. (mrs)

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/09/26/allia...-law.html

Islamic veil unfolding over Indonesia

---The Malaysian Insider, Malaysia

Tuesday September 22 2009

Islamic veil unfolding over Indonesia

JAKARTA, Sept 22 — Recent moves in Indonesia, including plans by one province to stone adulterers to death, have raised concerns about the reputation of the world’s most populous Muslin country as a beacon of moderate Islam.

The provincial assembly in the western-most province of Aceh — at the epicentre of the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 170,000 people there nearly five years ago — last week decreed the ancient Islamic penalty of stoning to death for adultery.

The decision could still be overturned once Aceh’s new Parliament is sworn in next month.

But many, including Aceh’s governor, the central government in Jakarta, and local businessmen, are concerned about the impact a broadcast public execution by stoning could have on Indonesia’s international reputation.

“The perception and the reaction from the international community would be condemnation,” said Anton Gunawan, chief economist at Bank Danamon, who stressed that he thought an actual stoning unlikely.

“For investors who are relatively familiar with Indonesia and know it is mostly moderate, it might not have an impact. But for people who don’t know Indonesia, they will think ‘Oh, now I have to be careful of it’.”

The Aceh case is one of several showing how hardline Muslim groups are influencing policy in Indonesia.

Local governments, given wide latitude to enact laws under Indonesia’s decentralisation programme, have begun to mandate Syariah regulations, including dress codes for women.

One ethnic Chinese Indonesian businessman, a practising Christian who asked not to be quoted by name, said that he feared if the trend continued it could lead to capital flight by the wealthy Chinese, Christian minority.

“A lot of regional laws are going in that direction. It’s already alarming the way it’s going. It’s a minority who are doing this, but the problem is that the silent majority just keep silent.”

Last year, the government imposed restrictions on Ahmadiyya, a minority Muslim cult, following intense lobbying by hardline Muslim groups to have them banned.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s party also backed an anti-pornography law, which imposes restrictions on certain forms of dance, traditional dress and the depiction of nudity in art.

The law was widely condemned by minority religious and ethnic groups, including the Balinese.

A new film law passed this month goes even further, prohibiting depictions of drug use, gambling and pornography, and requiring film-makers to have their plots approved by the Minister of Culture before production can begin.

“I think the Islamic parties will be a strong influence on the lawmaking of the next cabinet,” said Suma Mihardja, who led a campaign against the anti-pornography law.

“Tension could be directed toward xenophobia, racism, or religious conflict as we see in Malaysia today.”

Other legislation on the cards at the national level includes a bill making halal certification compulsory, instead of voluntary as is now the case.

That would result in higher costs for many food and pharmaceuticals companies, domestic and foreign, ranging from Nestle and Unilever to Kraft Foods Inc and Cadbury Plc, said Suroso Natakusuma from the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“Every single item will need halal certification and an external audit process may follow,” he said.

“The auditor may need to be sent to the country where the product was made to check the process is halal. That means air tickets, hotels. This will mean a lot of extra costs.”

The religiously inspired laws seem to run against the wishes of the electorate.

In the 2009 parliamentary election, the vote for the conservative Islamic party PPP declined 2.8 percentage points to just 5 per cent of the total vote, while the vote for another Islamic group, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), rose only 1.5 percentage points to 9 percent of the total. Overall, the share of votes for Islamic parties has steadily declined.

“People appear to be pandering to an audience that isn’t really asking for anything,” said James Bryson of HB Capital, which invests in Indonesian stocks. “The halal bill is not winning any votes and it’s making an already complex system of certification even more expensive.”

“Many of these laws lately are becoming more conservative,” said Said Abdullah of secular opposition party PDI-P who is on the committee debating the halal bill. “The government is trying to accommodate the Muslim community but they are actually not following our real constitution.”

Yudhoyono, a former general, won a second five-year term in July on promises to continue the battle against corruption and spur economic growth.

In the run-up to elections, Yudhoyono and his secular Democrat Party shifted closer to a clutch of religious parties including the hardline Islamist PKS, as relations with his main coalition partner, Golkar, grew increasingly strained.

Aceh wants to attract more investment, just like many other parts of Indonesia. Holding public executions by stoning, which could be televised and shown around the world, could well make that more difficult. — Reuters

URL: www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/bus...unfolding-over-indonesia

No haj for Ahmadiyah followers

---Kompas Cyber Media, Indonesia

Tuesday, 25 August 2009 | 10:44 PM

Image Caption in English: Sticker containing the confirmation of Non-Ahmadiyah Muslims stuck in people’s homes - Parakansalak, Kabupten Sukabumi - which is not Ahmadi Indonesia (JAI) members. The JAI worry, pasting stickers by strangers could be a provocation.

---

---The Jakarta Post, Indonesia

National Tue, 08/25/2009 10:22 PM

No haj for Ahmadiyah followers

Panca Nugraha, The Jakarta Post, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara

Followers of the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) claim to have been prevented by local authorities from going on the haj.

The unofficial ban had in place for some time, Ahmadiyah provincial chapter head Jauzi Djafar said.

“NTB provincial administration imposed the ban a long time ago, but not openly. Usually, employees of religious offices at district levels would make things difficult for Ahmadiyah members trying to make arrangements for haj permits,” he said.

Whether or not the government had imposed a ban was irrelevant to Ahmadis in NTB, Jauzi said.

“Even if we were encouraged to go on the haj, our members would definitely have to think very hard about it because where would they get the money for it? We face enough difficulties just putting food on the able, let alone to perform the haj. Perhaps if they were capable financially then they could think about doing the haj,” Jauzi said.

NTB Religious Affairs Office head Suhaimi Ismi denied the existence of a ban.

“There is no law banning Ahmadiyah members from performing the haj. Had the Saudi Arabian government banned them it would be another matter. We certainly did not issue such a ban,” he said Tuesday.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/08/25/no-haj-ahmadiyah-followers.html

Journalists urged to learn more about religion

--- The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Indonesia

National | Thu, 08/20/2009 10:06 AM

Journalists urged to learn more about religion

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Knowing about religion is essential to understand many major news stories, but media in Indonesia and the United States have mostly failed to grasp the religious context of the news, concluded a book seminar.

“The world is religious and some say it’s getting more religious. The problem is most American journalists are ignorant about religious matters,” said Paul Marshall, a senior fellow at the Center for Religious Freedom, at a book review seminar titled “Blind Spot: When Journalists Don’t Get Religion”, on Wednesday.

Endy Bayuni, the chief editor of The Jakarta Post, said the situation was different in Indonesia.

“Religion has always been important for Indonesian people. Journalists respect religion. However, most editors in Indonesia prefer to avoid religious issues,” Endy said.

Endy added Indonesian media was used to avoiding religious issues since the New Order era. During that era, the government forbade the media from writing about religious issues, especially about the religious dimension of conflicts.

He added most media had been reluctant to write about the harassment of religious minority groups like Ahmadiyah, or church attacks in Indonesia.

Bahtiar Effendy, a political professor at Jakarta Islamic State University, said most writing about religion by Indonesian journalists was shallow.

“Even the leading newspapers do not write with a deep understanding of religious matters, especially about Islam. But, they also do not make big mistakes,” Bahtiar said.

Marshall said there was an increasing demand for information about religious issues.

“In the book titled Blind Spot, the writers argue that in democratic countries, the role of religion in politics is increasing. Democracy is giving the world’s people their voice, and many want to talk about God,” Marshall said.

Marshall warned that taking religion as important part of journalism did not necessarily mean always writing about the religious issue in every story. “The most important thing is a journalist should understand whether the religion factor can help explain the story,” he said.

Marshall gave as an example the importance of religion in the Bali bombing case. “It is important to address that the perpetrators acted based on their version of Islam. Yes, most Indonesians do not believe in the bombers’ version of Islam, but still, Islam was an important factor in the bombers’ beliefs,” he said.

Bahtiar also said religion was an important factor explaining conflicts in political, economic or even legal spheres.

“In Indonesia, most Indonesian [journalists] like to view conflicts as triggered by differences between ethnicities, political stances, or the gaps in the economic situation.”

However, when there is a religious dimension in conflicts, the journalists prefer to overlook it, he added. Bahtiar said many journalists missed the connection between politics, the economy and religion.

“The journalists just have to study more. You cannot expect someone to master religion just because they are writing about religion in limited deadlines,” Marshall said. (mrs)

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2...arn-more-about-religion.html

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

---Jakarta Globe, Indonesia

June 25, 2009

Ismira Lutfia

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

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

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

“No media exists whose participants are homogenous.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ahmadiyah and Indonesian Democracy

---Jakarta Globe
Opinion

March 12, 2009

Wim Tangkilisan

Ahmadiyah and Indonesian Democracy

The Koran is very clear that “in matters of faith there shall be no coercion.”

And it stresses that “if it had been the will of your Lord that all the people of the world should be believers, then all the people of the earth would have believed! Would you now compel humankind against their will to believe?”

Now comes a Muslim leader, Cholid Ridwan, a chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulema, or MUI, who warns the President of Indonesia that if he does not outlaw Ahmadiyah, an Indonesian-based Islamic sect, the council will issue a fatwa, or religious edict, prohibiting Indonesian Muslims from voting for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the upcoming presidential elections.

Ahmadiyah is a sect of Indian origin, with some links to Sufism. It is controversial because of its claim that its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the last of the prophets, [Author of this article is not correct about claim of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as). For Ahmadiyya beliefs please visit www.alislam.org] contrary to the basic tenet of Islam that the final of the prophets is Muhammad.

The sect is not new to controversy. In the 1930s, it was rumored that independence hero and former President Sukarno had become a propagator of Ahmadiyah. He denied it in writing, but in the process he wrote a few words of praise for the good behavior of its adherents. He was emphatic, however, that he was not one of them.

Today there are Muslim circles in Indonesia that clamor for an outright ban against the sect. That is old news. What is new is the election-related threat of a fatwa against the president if he does not outlaw the sect.

Democracy is not just about elections. Even more essential is the way minorities are treated by the majority.

Another Muslim leader, Umar Shihab, also a chairman of the MUI, says that Cholid speaks only for himself. Furthermore, he says no such fatwa is being prepared. No threat of one. But, in effect he says that it would be nice indeed if the president did outlaw the sect.

The presidential spokesman, Andi Mallarangeng, says that this is just one more sign that everyone has caught election fever. “We don’t need to worry about it at all,” he said.

What indeed is there to worry about then? We perhaps have more urgent things to concern ourselves with, like corruption in the House of Representatives and getting the economic stimulus package up and running.

But wait a minute. There are basic questions involved in this issue that need attention.

There is, of course, the question of what Islam really teaches about tolerance, about the command against coercion on matters of faith. Where does it say in the Koran or in the Hadith that an exception has to be made in the case of the Ahmadiyah? The Muslim faithful may wish to obtain some clarity on that.

Since I am not a Muslim, I should let this be a matter among Muslims. But as an Indonesian, I am most concerned about the political implications of the issue. And when I say political, I don’t mean electoral politics. President Yudhoyono, I think, will win or lose the election on the basis of his performance as leader of the nation, fatwa or no fatwa.

What I mean is Indonesian democracy. I mean Indonesia’s aspiration and claim to be the world’s third largest democracy. I mean the pride that the Indonesian people derive from our international reputation as living proof that Islam, democracy and modernization can flourish together.

I mean human rights. Freedom of thought. Freedom of speech. Freedom of association.

Democracy is not just about elections. Even more essential to democracy is the way minorities are treated by the majority — whether their rights are held sacred or trampled upon.

We take pride in our tradition of m usyawarah untuk m ufakat , or consultations leading to consensus, a process in which all views are spoken for and all interests are taken into account. But all I have been hearing about Ahmadiyah are the threats against them.

Wim Tangkilisan is the president and editor in chief of the Jakarta Globe.

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/article/12571.html