INDONESIA: Ahmadiyah community faces ongoing discrimination

Opinions / Interviews / INDONESIA: Ahmadiyah community faces ongoing discrimination

INDONESIA: Ahmadiyah community faces ongoing discrimination

July 21, 2011

An interview with Zaenuda Ikhwanul Aziz from the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Community (JAI) published by the Asian Human Rights Commission regarding the situation faced by Ahmadis in Indonesia.

Zaenuda Ikhwanul Aziz, is the secretary of the legal committee of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah congregation (Jamaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia — JAI). He is actively involved in the struggle of the Ahmadiyah in the country.

How do you feel about what is happening to the Ahmadiyah community in Indonesia?

We feel that we are being discriminated against, especially the Ahmadiyah communities at the localities outside the capital of Jakarta. For example, the government does not give identification cards and marriage certificates to Ahmadiyahs.

At the economic sector many Ahmadiyahs have had to change the location of their businesses. Even in some provinces, the people from the community are intimidated not to buy products from Ahmadiyah shops and businesses and this has resulted in a serious reduction of our income.

In the social sector we also are excluded and intimidated. We are not allowed to be involved in social gatherings.

At the religious sector the Minister of Religion prohibits us from conducting the Hajj, (the pilgrimage to Mekka) and even when we pray, members of the local communities attack our mosques. Sometimes, our villages are also attacked.

Also, in the health sector, many people reject Ahmadiyahs as patients. We therefore feel discriminated against in most, if not all, sectors.

When did you start to feel the discrimination?

The discrimination started when the Indonesian Ulama Assembly (Majelis Ulama Indonesia - MUI) declared Ahmadiyah as an errant sect in 1980. This fatwa brought to light the differences between Ahmadiyahs and the community. The people followed the fatwa believing that Ahmadiyah is errant without seeking any further explanation or consideration.

The main actors involved are the Indonesian government, central and local law enforcement authorities and several Ulama members who influence the people to attack Ahmadiyah communities. This is especially so with those persons who live within Ahmadiyah communities.

In your opinion, what is the reason for the increase of the aggression against Ahmadiyahs in the last few years?

There are several reasons, not the least of which is that the government is indecisive about law enforcement. If the joint ministerial decree against JAI still prevailed then the government could not allow the local regulations in the provinces to declare Ahmadiyah as an errant sect. Unfortunately, the government did nothing to prevent this from happening.

The aggressors see Ahmadiyah as a threat because the numbers of Ahmadiyah communities is increasing and they are scared that they will lose their followers.

Also, the content of the joint ministerial decree has been misinterpreted. There are local regulations which use the joint resolution decree to declare Ahmadiyah as errant whereas there is no such statement in the decree itself. The JAI think this happened because the government is trying to distance itself from the joint of resolution decree.

Is the state doing anything to protect the Ahmadiyahs?

We feel the state protection is still minimal. There is still turmoil because there is no law enforcement. It is seldom that perpetrators of violence against Ahmadiyahs are arrested and they are never prosecuted in the courts.

What do you feel about the work of the police?

In general, the work of the police is still far from professional. However, we must acknowledge that in some areas, there are some good police officers working in relation to Ahmadiyahs.

What about the work of the courts?

Judges are deficient at searching for the truth. Their efforts are deficient when examining at a trial, investigating the witness and proof, such as happened at Cisalada trial. Even the verdict against the Ahmadiyah victim was heavier than that of the perpetrators.

What is the Ahmadiyah community doing in their own defence?

Our representatives visit government officials, legal enforcement authorities, and the community in general. Relating to the legal dealings, we entrust this to our legal counsel.

The result of our visits are promising in that there are several communities and authorities who opened up and accepted us such as in Bandung, Central Java, and Wonosobo. But there have also been rejections such as in Cianjur, Bogor.

What is your ultimate goal in this struggle?

All we ask for is the right to live like other citizens and that these rights are fulfilled by the government

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The views shared in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the AHRC, and the AHRC takes no responsibility for them.

URL: www.humanrights.asia/opinions/interviews/AHRC-ETC-033-2011

INDONESIA: Increasing attacks on religious groups demands central government action

NEWS

INDONESIA: Increasing attacks on religious groups demands central government action

April 7, 2011

Dear friends,

We wish to share with you the following statement from Amnesty International, KontraS, Imparsial, Elsam, Setara Institute, ICRP, HRWG, ANBTI, ILRC and Wahid Institute.

Asian Human Rights Commission
Hong Kong

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-FST-025-2011
April 7, 2011

A Statement from Amnesty International, KontraS, Imparsial, Elsam, Setara Institute, ICRP, HRWG, ANBTI, ILRC and Wahid Institute forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission

INDONESIA: Increasing attacks on religious groups demands central government action

The Indonesian government must do more to stop the rising number of incidents of violence, intimidation, harassment and discrimination against religious minorities, said a group of Indonesian and international human rights organizations today.

Amnesty International, along with KontraS, Imparsial, Elsam, Setara Institute, ICRP, HRWG, ANBTI, ILRC and Wahid Institute voiced their concern about the growing environment of discrimination and harassment against religious minorities, in particular the Ahmadiyya community.

KontraS has documented at least 62 incidents between January and March 2011 only against the Ahmadiyya community. According to data collected by HRWG, the pace of such attacks has increased sharply in 2011 compared with the previous two years. There are also concerns about continuing attacks against Christians.

A particularly alarming development was the involvement of the Indonesian military and police in intimidation and forced conversion of members of the beleaguered Ahmadiyya community. KontraS has documented at least 20 cases in March and early April 2011 where military and police have been involved in cases of intimidation, harassment and forced conversion.

Amnesty International shared the concerns raised by Indonesian human rights groups with the senior leadership of the Indonesian National Police on 5 April.

Amnesty International also met some of Indonesia’s largest mass religious organizations, including Muhamadiyyah, Nahdlatul Ulama, and the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI), an umbrella group for Protestant Churches.

Alarmed by the deteriorating situation, and in light of the positive meetings with police officials and religious leaders, the human rights groups issued the following recommendations:

— The central government must fulfill its obligation to ensure that all citizens, regardless of their religious beliefs, benefit from the human rights enshrined in the 1945 Indonesian Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Indonesia ratified in 2005 as provided by Law No. 12/2005;

— The central government, through the Ministry of Home Affairs, should immediately assert its exclusive authority to regulate religious affairs under the 2004 Law on Regional Autonomy and ensure that any regulations issued at the provincial as well as at the district level are in compliance with human rights protections as provided in the 1945 Indonesian Constitution and Indonesia’s obligations under international law, in particular the ICCPR;

— The Joint Ministerial Decree of 2008, which placed significant restrictions on the activities of the Ahmadiyya religious community, has served to foster a climate conducive to violence and vigilanteism, and should be immediately repealed;

— The Indonesian police should restate publicly its commitment to protecting the rights of all citizens regardless of their religious beliefs and put in place a proactive strategy for preventing and addressing incidents of religiously based violence. The groups welcomed the efforts to address the incidents in Cikeusik and Temanggung and look to the government and police to ensure that the trials proceed without intimidation of the victims, witnesses and their lawyers. The police should also ensure they register and investigate all cases of religious-based violence, regardless of the religious background of the victim.

— Central and local government officials should emphasize the basic protections for religious belief, expression, and association included in the 1945 Indonesian Constitution and international law and refrain from making comments stigmatizing religious minorities, which has created a climate fostering discrimination and violence.

Jakarta, 6 April 2011

Document ID: AHRC-FST-025-2011
URL: www.humanrights.asia/news/forwarded-news/AHRC-FST-025-2011

INDONESIA: Rule by violence

NEWS

INDONESIA: Rule by violence

March 21, 2011

Bombing of NGO office following religious standoff while US Congress urges President to revoke decrees

Archive photo, Ahmadiyya homes in Indonesia set on fire, source: Ahmadiyya Times

Following a series of violent incidents against religious minorities, including the Ahmadiyah community, two regional administrations in Indonesia had issued local decrees banning the Ahmadiyah followers. On February 6, in Cikeusik Banten for example three Ahmadiyah followers were killed and several injured after an angry mob attacked them. The few police officers present at the incident did little to stop the violence. An internal investigation by the police only named a few lower ranking officers as suspects of negligence but did not address the structural police involvement in such incidents of fundamentalist violence. Violence and protests against Ahmadiyah followers also took place in other provinces. The bombing of a Jakarta based NGO office advocating religious freedom completes the picture of Indonesian authorities that are not taking the side of the law and who appear unable to withstand the pressure from extremists.

On March 15, 2011, 27 members of the US Congress signed a letter to President Yudhoyono calling for the 2008 decree against Ahmadiya religions promulgation to be revoked as well as the regional decrees which banned the Ahmadiyah followers from exercising their religion. The letter is available here. Article 18 of the ICCPR protects the right of everyone to choose and exercise their religion and requires every government to protect this fundamental freedom as a human right. However, the government responded to the call to revoke the decrees by declaring that it reserves the right to treat the Ahmadiyah religious sect in any manner it likes, the Jakarta Post reported. While the Indonesian government acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 2006 it now openly ignores its earlier commitments to human rights.

On Tuesday March 15, 2011 a letter mail was sent to the co-founder of the Liberal Islamic Network (JIL), Ulil Abshar Abdalla in East Jakarta. The radio stations housed in the same building witnessed the blast. The unusual events in building show the inability of police to deal with the situation:

By 10 am on Tuesday March 15, a dark skinned 170cm tall man wearing a parachute jacket and a hat delivered a package wrapped in brown paper to the reception desk of the building used by the JIL (Jaringan Islam Liberal) and the pro democratic radio station KBR68H radio station and other groups.

At 11.30 am 4 or 5 people arrived in a car. Two of them came into the building and identified themselves as members of a travel agency and talked to KBR68H radio about running promotions for the pilgrimage trips to Mecca in the radio channel. After their unusual visit was over the men went on to visit JIL in the same building with the same request, falsely alleging to have been recommended by KBR68H to talk to JIL. This appeared as an attempt to gain trust.

At 2.30pm 3 persons who identified themselves as coming from the National Police Headquarter arrived and alleged to want to talk about the recent situation of religious violence and events about the Ahmadiyah followers. By that time the staff of JIL had become suspicious about the package they received since it contained a book titled “They Deserved to Be Killed: Because of Their Sins to Islam and Muslims” and appeared to be glued together.

Since the suspicion of a bomb in the book arouse, it was of unusual coincidence that three members of police were already around when the JIL were thus able to hand over the book to them. The local police was also called and a group of around ten officers arrived betweem 3 pm – 3.30 pm. It was soon confirmed that wires in the object made it likely to be a bomb. The crowd of police then decided to try traditional methods to neutralise it, by pouring water in it after bringing the bomb into the backyard of the building. Following this the mobile phone battery that had supplied the bomb system with electricity was taken off by the police and this action triggered the bomb. The resulting explosion injured one of the policemen, none of whom were bomb disposal specialists.

A second letter bomb with the same book title was sent to Comr. Gen. Gories Mere, a former key officer of the National Police’s elite counterterrorism unit, Densus 88.

In 2005 the KBR68H radio station had become a target of an attack from the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) after the radio had promoted religious tolerance.

A day earlier on March 14, four laptops and one computer were stolen from the office of the National Alliance for Unity in Diversity (Aliansi Nasional Bhinneka Tunggal Ika ANBTI). The group supported and promoted the Indonesian constitutional value of a pluralistic society in Indonesia.

It is not only the police and local administrations that have supported activities against Ahmadiyah followers. According to the Human Rights Working Group the Indonesian military has also been involved in activities against the religious minority. Members of the military have occupied mosques and urged Ahmadiyah members to discard their beliefs. With this activity the military has gone far beyond its mandate and has thus violated laws.

The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) is believed to be behind recent attacks against the Ahmadiyah community. Habib Rizieq Shihab, head of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) explained that FPI would only settle for peace if the President would ban the Ahmadiyah in Indonesia. He threatened that violence against Ahmadyah followers would continue unless the Islamic sect would be legally banned.

The repeated and open threats of violence against religious minorities are a crime in the Indonesian Penal Code. The police often do not react appropriately to such incitements of violence and authorities instead allow such incidents, like the recent killings and bans, to take place. In some instances the argument to maintain public security and order is turned around so that the responsibility for the violence is not that of the instigators of the violence but rather at the victims who are accused of causing instability.

The AHRC urges the President, the Indonesian government and the National Police to protect the constitutional values, human rights and applicable international law by fully investigating all threats against any religious groups in Indonesia and to give full support including protection measures to threatened communities. Allegations against members of the police and military to support religious extremists or their views must be investigated. Any officer supporting such views should face disciplinary and criminal measures including suspension and criminal charges.

Document ID: AHRC-STM-043-2011
URL: www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-STM-043-2011