Islamic Hard-Liners Plan Massive Pancasila Rally

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Islamic Hard-Liners Plan Massive Pancasila Rally

Nivell Rayda | May 11, 2011

Cianjur, West Java. After failing to kick-start a revolution through massive protests echoing those in the Middle East this year, hard-line Muslim groups are now plotting an even bigger rally next month, this time claiming they have forged an unlikely alliance with nationalists.

Speaking from his home in West Java, Chep Hermawan, the leader of the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis), said that 40,000 protesters were expected to rally in front of the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on June 1.

“Basically everyone who is a staunch critic of SBY will be on board,” Chep said, referring to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. “It will be like Cairo, where everyone who didn’t like Mubarak joined forces to topple a corrupt government.”

Chep named Sri Bintang Pamungkas, a Suharto-era political activist, and Andi Mapetahang Fatwa, a member of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), as being among the nationalists who had expressed an interest in taking part in the rally.

“We plan on doing this on the anniversary of the Pancasila,” Chep said, referring to the state ideology first articulated by former President Sukarno on June 1, 1945.

Chep said Muslim groups were hoping to return the Pancasila to its original state, as outlined in the Jakarta Charter of June 22, 1945. The first principle of the Jakarta Charter, which was ultimately incorporated into the preamble of the constitution, was the “obligation for all followers to observe Shariah law.” It was later changed to “Belief in the one and only God,” by then-Vice President Mohammad Hatta.

“We want the Pancasila to return to its original state,” Chep said. “We don’t reject the Pancasila, rather we want to restore it to its intended purpose.”

The protest, Chep added, would also cover other topical issues. “Basically our plan is to stage a rally that appeals to all, not just Muslims,” he said. “We have been talking with the nationalists and they agreed to join our rally, but they will be pushing labor issues, agricultural reform and so on.”

Demonstrators, he said, would also demand the dissolution of Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect considered deviant by mainstream Muslims.

In February, a massive rally by hard-line groups demanded Yudhoyono issue a decree banning Ahmadiyah, threatening a revolution if he failed to do so by March 1. Nothing has happened since the deadline passed.

Chep blamed a lack of coordination and funds for the failure of the February protests.

For the June protest, Chep said that meetings had been, and would continue to be, held with leaders of opposition parties and former presidential candidates, asking them for political and financial support. “I have also prepared Rp 2 billion [$234,000] to finance the rally in the hope that opponents of the government will be convinced to invest as well,” Chep said.

Executives of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the Islamic People’s Forum (FUI) said they had not yet heard of the plan.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/islamic-.../440537

Police coercing members to quit faith, sect claims

World

Police coercing members to quit faith, sect claims

Tom Allard HERALD CORRESPONDENT
March 19, 2011

JAKARTA: Members of the Ahmadiyah religious sect have been pressured by Indonesian security personnel to abandon the faith amid continual harassment of them, sect leaders say.

The military and government ministers have defended their actions, saying there has been no intimidation, only efforts to protect Ahmadis from violence.

Ahmadis have come under increasing attacks in the past 18 months, culminating in the killing of three adherents by a mob of hundreds of Islamists in Banten province last month.

Advertisement: Story continues below The government denounced the violence and 12 people have been arrested.

But since the incident, several provincial governments have introduced edicts banning Ahmadiyah, while the Minister for Religious Affairs, Suryadharma Ali, has continued his campaign for the group to be outlawed entirely.

Ata ur-Rahman, an Ahmadiyah preacher from Cirebon, in west Java, said 12 Ahmadis in his area had been summoned in recent days by the military or district chief to sign a petition disavowing their faith.

“So far only five have signed it and left Ahmadiyah,” Mr Ata said.

Others had been visited at their homes, he said. More than 50 such approaches had been documented in West Java.

“The military guys told them, ‘This is for the sake of security … We don’t want things that occurred in other places happening here too … Therefore, we ask you to join mainstream Islam. Don’t follow a false sect,”‘ Mr Ata said.

Ahmadis follow the Koran and observe most Islamic traditions but they believe that a late 19th-century Indian religious figure, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the messiah foreshadowed in the Hadith.

The belief angers some orthodox Muslims, who view any deviance from the tenet that Mohammed was the final prophet as deeply offensive.

There are more than 200,000 Ahmadis in Indonesia, where the faith was introduced in the 1920s. However, since a presidential decree was issued in 2008, Ahmadiyah adherents are forbidden from proselytising and must observe their religion in private.

The deadly attack in February was captured on video and the shocking footage went viral online. A censored version was shown widely on Indonesian and international television.

It prompted much soul-searching about Indonesia’s commitment to its constitutional right to freedom of religion.

However, incidents of harassment have continued unabated. In West Java, there have been attacks on the homes of Ahmadis, prompting police to question followers of the sect. The perpetrators of the attacks were not arrested.

The local military commander in West Java reportedly demanded the replacement of an Ahmadi cleric at a mosque in Bandung with a preacher from the conservative Indonesian Ulemas Council.

In East Java, Ahmadis were told this month to remove the signs outside their mosque.

In South Sumatra, Ahmadis were ordered to cancel a celebration of the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday, said Basuki Ahmad, a preacher from Palembang.

“We are only allowed to hold small gatherings inside our mosques now,” Mr Basuki said.

Five provinces and six regencies have banned the sect since the killings in Banten.

“These decrees place officials on the side of militants who increasingly have been carrying out attacks on Ahmadiyah,” said Phil Robertson, of Human Rights Watch.

But the Minister for Justice and Human Rights, Patrialis Akbar, said there had been no violations by the military or police because they were trying to foster communication between Ahmadis and aggrieved Muslim groups.

The Defence Minister, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, said: “There’s no negative element, there’s no coercion whatsoever.”

© 2011 AAP | Copyright © 2011 Fairfax Media
URL: www.smh.com.au/world/police-coercing-...1c0dt.html

Islamic hardliners plan Jakarta march

World

Islamic hardliners plan Jakarta march

February 20, 2011 - 1:29PM

AAP

Hardline Islamists are planning a second mass rally in the Indonesian capital as they continue to threaten to oust President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono unless he outlaws a minority Muslim sect.

The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), linked to recent deadly acts of religious violence in Indonesia, has called for a revolution like that seen in Egypt and claims thousands of its members and supporters will march on the State Palace next month.

On Friday, several hundred members of the group carried banners as they protested in central Jakarta calling for Dr Yudhoyono to disband Ahmadiyah, a minority Muslim sect, shouting that they wanted an “Islamic revolution”.

Advertisement: Story continues below Members of FPI have been linked to the murder of three Ahmadiyah during a violent rampage involving 1500 people in west Java’s Banten province two weeks ago, which prompted the president to call for extremist groups to be brought into line and for greater religious tolerance in Indonesia.

A second mass protest is now planned for March 1, when FPI members are expected to camp outside the State Palace with one member of the group, Misbakhul Hanan, telling the Jakarta Globe newspaper that if their demands are not met, “the revolution that happened in Egypt will happen in Indonesia too”.

The comments came as FPI chairman Habib Haziq used his Friday sermon to say he would not rest, no matter what the risks, until Ahmadiyah was eliminated.

“In the name of Allah, I swear that until the last drop of my blood, whatever the risks, Ahmadiyah must not exist in Indonesia,” he reportedly said.

Human rights organisations have voiced concerns about a recent upswing in religious violence in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, after mobs also ransacked a court and burnt Christian churches in Temanggung in central Java, just days after the attack on Ahmadiyah worshippers.

The riot in Temanggung came after a Christian man was sentenced to the maximum five years in jail for insulting Islam, disappointing the crowd which demanded the court hand him over so that he could be executed.

© 2011 AAP | Copyright © 2011 Fairfax Media
URL: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/islamic...1b0rg.html