Ahmadis criticise govt inaction over targeted killings

Pakistan Punjab

Ahmadis criticise govt inaction over targeted killings

By Shamsul Islam
Published: September 10, 2011

Ahmadis say their community is facing dire threat. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE

FAISALABAD: Ahmadis are completely at the mercy of assassins who are targeting and killing them with impunity and police and other law-enforcement agencies were doing nothing to thwart their actions, the secretary of the Faisalabad chapter of the Jama’at Ahmadiyya said in a letter sent to foreign missions and top government functionaries.

Syed M Mahmood, the secretary of the organisation’s general affairs, said that he had “sent a letter (containing) forewarnings regarding the plight of the Ahmadiyya community in Faisalabad”, but no action was taken on it.

The letter was dispatched to the Human Rights Watch, the Asian Human Rights Commission, US embassy in Islamabad, the British High Commission and the embassies of France, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, Islamabad.

He said that several victims, including Laeeq Ahmed, who was a member of the local chapter of the Jama’at Ahmadiyya, were brutally murdered in public, but police was trying to look the other way.

Citing the example of Laeeq Ahmed’s murder, he said: “It is shocking to know that neither the empties in the car were taken into the possession by the police nor the car was examined.”

According to him, another Ahmadi, Naseem Ahmad Butt became the victim of a targeted killing, but his killers were “roaming free” and asking about the whereabouts of his brother.

He reminded that “both the killings (occurred) in the constituency of the controversial Punjab law minister, Rana Sanaullah, who sides with the extremist groups”.

Expressing his frustration, he said: “We cannot continue to see our dear ones murdered with impunity. I have no option but to send this report also to world organisations on human rights, to different embassies, to show them the disintegration and complete collapse of law and order in Punjab. We (fear) that this (city) might become a second Karachi.”

This letter was also sent to the governor of Punjab, the provincial home secretary, additional secretary (home), IG police, additional IG, RPO Faisalabad, CPO Faisalabad, SSP (Operations) Faisalabad and DCO Faisalabad,

In another letter sent to foreign missions in Islamabad and law-enforcement authorities, the Ahmadiyya community also protested over what they termed forced rustication of three female students from the National Textile University (NTU) in Faisalabad because of their faith.

It was pointed out, “NTU Faisalabad has become the hub of…extremist and militant groups”.

“There has been a planned subversion of all the decent norms of an educational institution. The target has been the Ahmadiyya Community and the weaker Ahmadi female students”.

“So much so, that all the female students had to leave the NTU Faisalabad. Their educational careers were abandoned midway. Moulvis were imported (to the campus) who harangued the students against the Ahmadiyya Community in such an abusive language which defies definition”.

The letter pointed out, “The parents of the students have been approaching the rector of the NTU Faisalabad, but he showed his inability to control the situation”.

“Even the magazine of the NTU, Faisalabad, exhorts that all Ahmadis should be killed.

“This is not a textile university, this is the killing factory of the Taliban.”

“This university, hotbed of extremism, should have no affiliation with any other educational institutions in the world. Otherwise, the name of other decent educational institution will be sullied.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2011.

Copyrighted © 2011 The Express Tribune News Network
URL: http://tribune.com.pk/story/249311/extremist-groups...killings/

A community marked for death

Opinion »

A community marked for death

Published on June 20, 2011

Re: “Ahmadiya people are safe in Pakistan” June 18, 2011

As a mainstream Pakistani Muslim I was shocked to read the rebuttal put forward by the Department of Consular Affairs, Embassy of Pakistan. They conveniently ignored the fact that Pakistan is the only state which has officially declared the Ahmadiya community as non-Muslims. Their freedom of religion has been curtailed through many ordinances, acts and constitutional amendments by myopic dictators like General Zia ul Haq and later right-wing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

On April 16, 1984, General Zia-ul-Haq, the former dictator (also the worst thing to have ever happened to Pakistan), issued the anti-Ahmadiya Ordinance, which effectively prohibited Ahmadis from preaching or professing their beliefs. The ordinance, which was supposed to prevent “anti-Islamic activities,” forbids Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslim or to “pose as Muslims”. This means that they are not allowed to profess the Islamic creed publicly or call their places of worship mosques.

Pray tell, where is the ‘freedom of religion’?

As a result of these black laws, which are completely against the wishes of the secular founder of the country Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Ahmadiya community, is threatened and hate-related literature is spread by fundamentalist religious groups to which Pakistan is no stranger.

Just last week a rights organisation said it feared large-scale targeted killings of Ahmadis in Faisalabad after pamphlets labelling members of the Ahmadiyya community “Wajibul Qatl” (‘liable to be murdered’), and inciting people to publicly attack followers of the faith, were openly and widely circulated in the city.

Living in denial will only worsen the already dreadful situation in the country.

Ahsan Arif Awan
Assumption University

URL: www.nationmultimedia.com/home/A-community...

Embassy should have remained silent instead of lying

Opinion »

Embassy should have remained silent instead of lying

Published on June 20, 2011

Re: “Ahmadiya people are safe in Pakistan” June 18, 2011

I understand that it is the job of embassy staff to defend their country in foreign lands. However, there should be some decency to avoid complete fabrication of truth.

The Department of Consular Affairs, Embassy of Pakistan has the audacity to claim that lives of Ahmadi Muslims is not in mortal danger, and there is no persecution at state level of the Ahmadiya Muslim community.

Nothing could be further from the truth. A simple search on Google will list reports from the US, EU, UN and Asian human rights organisations that clearly document persecution faced by Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan on a daily basis.

The embassy should try to tell about the safety in Pakistan to widows and orphans of Ahmadis who were massacred in their own mosques. What will the embassy say to the old parents who had to bury their sons killed for being an Ahmadi Muslim?

Even as I write this letter, leaflets and posters are all being distributed in Faisalabad (one of the largest cities in Pakistan) that openly encourage Pakistanis to “kill all Ahmadis” in order to receive their high station in paradise. Is this the definition of Pakistan as a safe heaven for Ahmadis?

It is the state law that declared Ahmadis as non-Muslims thus encouraging killing of Ahmadis as apostates. If this was not enough, special ordinance was passed to ensure that any act of an Ahmadi Muslim to practise his or her faith becomes blasphemous in the eyes of the law.

In a country where a provincial governor and a minister of the state were killed in broad daylight for speaking against the blasphemy law, I am astonished how the counsellor affairs can sing songs about the safety of Ahmadi Muslims.

Shame on the Consular Affairs, it would have better to keep quiet!

Farhan Khokhar
Ontario, Canada

URL: www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Embassy...30158206.html

Thailand releases Pakistani refugees on bail

Breaking News »

Thailand releases Pakistani refugees on bail

05 June 2011

Thai immigration police Monday released on bail 96 Pakistani refugees of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community who had been detained for nearly six months.

“Today is our day of freedom,” said Mehmood, one of the released Pakistanis. “We thank God.”

The group was detained in December after arriving from Pakistan to seek resettlement abroad with the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which has a regional office in Bangkok.

The group claimed political persecution in Pakistan.

Among those released on bail were 34 children under the age of 12, and one infant who was born while his mother was detained.

Their release was made possible by the Thai Committee for Refugees, a non-governmental organisation that put up a 5-million-baht (166,666-dollar) bond for the refugees, who will be housed in Bangkok while waiting for the UNHCR to process the resettlement applications.

“We are glad to see Thai society rallying to protect refugees, who - having fled persecution in their homelands - are among the most vulnerable people in this country,” said James Lynch, UNHCR’s representative for Thailand.

“The UN refugee agency believes no refugee should be locked up simply for being a refugee,” he added.//DPA

URL: www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Thailand...30157111.html

NGOs Say US Got it Wrong on Indonesian Human Rights

NEWS

NGOs Say US Got it Wrong on Indonesian Human Rights

Dessy Sagita | April 11, 2011

In this file photo, an activist protests on Human Rights Day in Jakarta on Dec. 10, 2010. Watchdog groups say the United States is going too soft on Indonesia in its latest human rights assessment. (Antara Photo)

Indonesian activists on Sunday criticized the US government for praising Indonesia’s progress on human rights, saying that the barometer used for the report could be misleading.

“I’m a bit concerned with the diplomatic statements made by some countries regarding Indonesia’s progress on human rights, because it could give people the wrong perception about what’s really happening,” Haris Azhar, coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), told the Jakarta Globe.

As in previous editions, the US State Department’s annual survey on human rights pointed to concerns in Indonesia, this year including accounts of unlawful killings in violence-torn Papua along with violations of freedom of religion.

But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while presenting on Friday the mammoth, 7,000-page global report, pointed to Indonesia as a success story.

“Indonesia boasts a vibrant free media and a flourishing civil society at the same time as it faces up to challenges in preventing abuses by its security forces and acting against religious intolerance,” she was quoted by foreign wire agencies as saying.

The survey covers the period before Islamic fanatics brutally killed three members of the Ahmadiyah sect in early February, raising questions over Indonesia’s commitment to safeguard minority rights.

The concern over Papua is primarily a reference to the torture of two civilians there last year by soldiers. They were subsequently court-martialed in January but given sentences of less than a year, a punishment slammed by the influential group Human Rights Watch as far too lenient to send a message that abuse was unacceptable.

Kontras’s Haris said both indicators presented by the US government — that Indonesia has been progressing in terms of media independence and better access for civil societies to voice their concern — were also incorrect.

“Freedom of journalism? I don’t think so. It’s still fresh in our minds that several journalists have been brutally attacked because of their reporting, some were even murdered,” he said.

“And in terms of flourishing civil societies, it’s true, non-government organizations are mushrooming, but what’s the point if human rights defenders and anticorruption activists are assaulted?” he added.

According to Kontras, in 2010 alone more than 100 human rights activists here were victimized and many of the perpetrators remain free.

And according to Reporters Without Borders, when it comes to press freedom, Indonesia ranks very low, much worse than it did several years ago when Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid was the president.

The US report in some ways echoes progress noted by New York-based Human Rights Watch in its own annual review of human rights practices around the globe, released in January. Then it noted that while serious human rights concerns remained, Indonesia had over the past 12 years made great strides in becoming a stable, democratic country with a strong civil society and independent media.

But Andreas Harsono, from Human Rights Watch, said it was perplexing that the US government would compliment Indonesia’s progress on rights.

“It’s a big joke,” he said. “Attacks against Ahmadiyah have been happening since 2008, after the joint ministerial decree was issued, and attacks against churches during SBY’s six-year tenure are even more prevalent than during the five decades in which Sukarno and Suharto ruled,” he said.

Additional reporting by AP, AFP

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/ngos-say.../434680

International community must intervene for the release of 85 Ahmadi refugees mistreated in Thailand

Asian Human Rights Commission — Statement

PAKISTAN/THAILAND: International community must intervene for the release of 85 Ahmadi refugees mistreated in Thailand

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-019-2011
January 31, 2011

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

PAKISTAN/THAILAND: International community must intervene for the release of 85 Ahmadi refugees mistreated in Thailand

A group of 85 persons have been in detention in Bangkok since December 14, 2010 despite the fact that they are already registered as asylum seekers with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok. Of the 85 persons, 17 of them have reportedly had their applications accepted and have been granted refugee status. The group includes 38 women and girls, among whom there is at least one pregnant woman. It also includes at least 38 children, including 26 aged under 10 years. There is also a number of babies and elderly one of whom is 60 and is suffering high blood pressure and another person with a heart condition.…

The group belongs to the Ahmadiya community who fled from Pakistan to take shelter in Bangkok, Thailand, after undergoing continuous persecution and killings, particularly after the attacks of Muslim extremists on their two Mosques in May 2010 in which more than 100 persons were killed. They left their country to register as refugees with the UNHCR and seek asylum.

Sadly instead of the compassion and humanitarian assistance they urgently need they have instead suffered serious violations of their human rights. This may be seen in the treatment of those in the detention centre. The hygiene and sanitation conditions are appalling. Medical and nutrition facilities are almost non-existent. The detainees are being fed by the local Thai community and the sick children have little medical care. Women have been assaulted and the one who was pregnant was taken to hospital for delivery in handcuffs and heavy chains and kept in such restraint throughout her delivery. On return to the detention centre she was kept in chains and locked up in a toilet for a whole night.

They were all genuine refugees as defined in the UNHCR 1951 convention. They also had the right to flee to another country under article 14 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights. On registration they were all issued with a protection certificate as a proof of identity for the Thai Government to allow them to remain in the country until their asylum application was determined. However, in total disregard of the UNHCR convention and the international Code of Conduct, the Thai Police raided the lodgings of the refugees and arrested them, heavily fining them for overstaying in the country. Following this they were placed in a detention centre indefinitely.

It is extremely perturbing that the Thai government took this action against the members of a law abiding peaceful community who had fled from Pakistan where they were constantly being prosecuted under the blasphemy laws, the mandatory punishment for which is death.

All those arrested possessed protection certificates issued by the UNHCR which were supposed to be honoured by the Thai Government, even if it is not a signatory to the UNHCR 1951 convention. It is a situation that needs to be taken up seriously with the Thai government by the world community. How can the Thai Government, as a full member of the UN and the current president of the UNHRC, fail to cooperate with, support and honour the work of a UN organisation it has allowed to operate from its country.

The Asian Human Rights Commission is appalled by this situation urges the chairperson of United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the Swedish Parliament and the European Union to raise the issue with the Government of Thailand and take appropriate action for the immediate release and care of the detainees in Bangkok.

# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

URL: www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2011statements/3062

Rights groups’ concern over Thailand asylum arrests

Rights groups’ concern over Thailand asylum arrests

Wed, Dec 22, 2010
AFP

BANGKOK - An elderly Chinese dissident and more than 30 children are among a host of refugees and asylum seekers arrested and detained by Thai immigration authorities, rights groups said Wednesday.

Journalist and activist Sun Shucai, 87, “is not getting enough food” in the Bangkok detention centre where he is being held, according to media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

“We are very concerned about Sun’s health as the conditions in the detention centre are poor. We fear that a man his age may not be able to endure this ordeal,” the group said in a statement.

Sun, who served 14 years of hard labour in eastern China for writing critical articles, was arrested on December 8 despite holding papers from the UN saying his application for refugee status was under consideration, it added.

Reporters Without Borders said a judge fined the dissident 3,000 Baht (100 dollars) the day after his arrest and ordered the authorities to examine the possibility of deporting him.

Concerns about him came as rights organisations raised fears over the detention of 86 people of Pakistani origin who were arrested on December 14.

A statement from 26 rights groups sent by the Asian Human Rights Commission said they were “deeply concerned and shocked” by the detention of the group, which they said included more than 30 children.

The groups believe that almost all the detainees are either recognised as refugees or are awaiting confirmation of their status.

According to the statement all those arrested are Ahmadiyya Muslims, a group subject to “systematic persecution” in Pakistan.

“This targeted detention by Thai officials of a particular community from their homes is particularly concerning and disturbing,” the rights groups said.

Thai immigration authorities and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Bangkok were both unavailable for comment.

Reporters Without Borders said Sun had a long history of political activism and was sentenced to 14 years in 1956 for criticising China’s Maoist revolution.

Once freed he was assigned to work in metallurgical plant, but he resumed his dissident activity in 1998, writing articles critical of the ruling Communist Party.

“Sun’s only crime is to have sought refuge in a safe place because his defence of human rights was exposing him to reprisals in China,” the group said.

©2010 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved

URL: http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Asia/Story/A1Story20101222-254268.html

PAKISTAN: Statement of concern on the detention of refugees and asylum seekers of Pakistani origin in Thailand

Asian Human Rights Commission — Statement

PAKISTAN: Statement of concern on the detention of refugees and asylum seekers of Pakistani origin in Thailand

Dear friends,

We wish to share with you the following statement from 26 Human Rights Organisations.

Asian Human Rights Commission
Hong Kong

___________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-FST-101-2010
December 22, 2010

A Statement from 26 Human Rights Organisations forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission

PAKISTAN: Statement of concern on the detention of refugees and asylum seekers of Pakistani origin in Thailand

Date: 15/12/2010

We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned and shocked at the arrest and detention of 86 refugees and asylum seekers of Pakistani origin in Bangkok. These vulnerable people were arrested from their homes in a dawn raid and taken to the Bangkok Detention Centre.

We have information that indicates that almost all the detainees have either been recognized as refugees by the UNHCR or have registration documents as their cases for Refugee Status Determination is under way. They all belong to the Ahmadiyya faith. The persecution of Ahmadis has been particularly severe and systematic in Pakistan, which is the only state to have officially declared the Ahmadis to be non-Muslims and are persecuted for professing their religion. The systematic persecution of the community in Pakistan is well documented.

This targeted detention by Thai officials of a particular community from their homes is particularly concerning and disturbing.

We have been informed that the detainees include more than 30 children who have been detained along with their parents.

Thailand has been generous and accommodating of those who have sought refuge within its borders. It has been compassionate and understanding of those in need of protection from persecution. These detentions however are a blot on the tolerant and compassionate image of Thailand.

Thailand is the President of the UN Human Rights Council, and it is highly unbecoming of the President of the Human Rights Coucil to sanction a flagrant violation of basic human rights. International human rights standards prohibit arbitrary, indefinite and non-reviewable detention. Refugees and asylum seekers should not be detained or penalized because they were compelled to enter a country irregularly or without proper documentation.

In addition, Thailand, which has signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, must ensure the best interest of all children, that they are protected and are not detained for migration-related purposes in the first instance.

These refugees and asylum seekers are NOT criminals, they need to be protected and not victimised.

We strongly urge the Thai government to reconsider its ill advised action and release the 86 detainees.

We hope the Thai government will adhere to the high standards of compassion and human rights through the unconditional release of the detainees.

Signed by 26 human rights organisations as seen below:

	Name Of organisation	Country
1.	Asylum Access	USA
2.	Asylum Access Thailand	Thailand
3.	Egyptian Foundation for Refugee Rights	Egypt
4.	Fahamu Refugee Programme	UK
5.	Forum Asia	Regional
6.	Glo Foundation	India
7.	Healthy Equity Initiatives	Malaysia
8.	Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre Limited	Hong Kong, China SAR
9.	INHURED International	Nepal
10.	International Detention Coalition	International
11.	Khmer Kampuchaa Krom Human Rights Association (KKKHRA)	Cambodia
12.	Korean Public Interest Lawyers Group GONGGAM	Republic of Korea
13.	Libyan League for Human Rights	Libya
14.	Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service	Unied States of America
15.	Mapendo International	USA
16.	NANCEN	South Korea
17.	New Zealand National Refugee Network	New Zealand
18.	OfERR	India
19.	Peoples Empowerment Foundation	Thailand
20.	PPR Nepal	Nepal
21.	Refugee Council of Australia	Australia
22.	Thai Committee for Refugees (TCR)	Thailand
23.	The Arakan Project	Regional
24.	the National Human Rights Society of Malaysia (HAKAM)	Malysia
25.	The other Media	India
26.	U.S. Committee for Refugees and immigrants (USCRI)	USA

# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984. The above statement has only been forwarded by the AHRC.

URL: www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2010statements/3005/

Pakistan Ahmadi man forcibly exhumed in Lahore

South Asia

2 November 2010 Last updated at 16:18 GMT

Pakistan Ahmadi man forcibly exhumed in Lahore

By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Islamabad

Ahmadis are despised by many
Pakistanis

Police in Pakistan have forced a family of the Ahmadi sect to exhume the body of a relative because it was buried in a Muslim graveyard.

Officials in the Sargodha district of Punjab province say they took the unusual move after anti-Ahmadi Muslim groups threatened peace in the area.

Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims but a 1984 law barred them from identifying themselves as followers of the faith.

The law also put restrictions on their religious practices.

‘Law and order situation’

Shehzad Waraich, a farmer in the Bhalwal area of Sargodha district, died on 30 October and was buried in a shared graveyard designated by the government.

“The police approached the relatives of Mr Waraich on 31 October and asked them to remove the body from the Muslim graveyard as this could lead to a law and order situation,” Salimuddin, an Ahmadi community spokesman, told the BBC.

“The family complied with the request and exhumed the body. They have now buried it in a different graveyard reserved for the Ahmadis several miles away from the village.”

The police said the family was asked to exhume the body because the burial was “illegal”.

“They buried Mr Waraich in a Muslim graveyard, which is against the law,” Javed Islam, the Sargodha district police chief, told the BBC.

“Members of the Khatm-e-Nabuwat organisation and some local people approached the police and conveyed their objection to the burial. The objection was within the ambit of the law, so we acted accordingly,” he said.

Khatm-e-Nabuwat is an anti-Ahmadi religious organisation that acts as a watchdog on their activities.

Mr Islam said that he was not concerned about the moral aspect of the exhumation of Mr Waraich’s body - his job was to enforce the law.

Ahmadis in Pakistan are often mobbed and lynched by extremist elements who critics say are encouraged by favourable laws.

The Ahmadi spokesman, Salimuddin, said it was the 30th incident since 1984 in which an Ahmadi body has been forcefully exhumed by the administration to satisfy the opponents of the community.

“The administration always sides with our opponents, and has a convenient argument that they are trying to maintain peace,” he said.

BBC © MMX
URL: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11675405

The Thinker: Losing the Faith

COLUMN

The Thinker: Losing the Faith

Robin Lee Santoso | November 02, 2010

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s speech against the persecution of minorities last month received much acclaim. Speaking with an eye to the recent string of clashes between Islamic extremists and members of the Ahmadiyah sect, he voiced his strongest statement on religious extremism to date, saying mosques should provide “comfort and peace to everyone, and not encourage provocation.”

But how can we reconcile Yudhoyono’s condemnation with the many laws that condone the oppression of Ahmadiyahs?

A 2008 joint ministerial decree still prohibits Ahmadiyah mosque leaders from preaching in public.

When a West Java Ahmadiyah mosque was attacked in August, government officials shut it down for weeks and even entertained the idea of relocating it.

With only 100,000 members in a country of 240 million, Ahmadiyahs are virtually unable to build new mosques, as a 2006 joint ministerial decree requires the approval of 60 households before such construction can take place.

And the list of restrictions goes on and on.

This indicates that Yudhoyono is preaching to the wrong audience.

Aside from the fact that Ahmadiyah’s violent attackers are Islamic extremists and not members of the mainstream Baiturrahim Mosque, Yudhoyono overlooks the laws that sanction oppression.

If Yudhoyono wants to eliminate the persecution of minorities, he must revise our discriminatory religious ideology.

Indonesia’s religious ideology singles out and protects five religions — Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism — above others.

The perks of being approved includes protection by the 1965 Blasphemy Law, which bans religious groups that “distort” or “misrepresent” the central tenets of the official faiths.

In practice, the Blasphemy Law is distorted to preserve the Islamic status quo.

Without an official definition of what constitutes “orthodox Islamic beliefs,” lawmakers have filled the void with their own definition, to the exclusion of the Ahmadiyahs.

This took place despite the fact that Ahmadiyah members consider themselves part of the Sunni tradition of Islam.

When I spoke to one Ahmadiyah spokesman this summer, he explained in detail how all their claims were based on verses of the Koran.

Although the Ahmadiyahs differ in their interpretation of some Koranic verses, these differences are secondary to the faith’s central tenets.

Yet they are still being stripped of their basic rights.

There was a time when the Catholic Church persecuted the believers of Protestantism.

Need there be a repeat of history?

The intolerance bred by the nation’s religious ideology goes against the country’s democratic aspirations.

Lawmakers should not have the freedom to choose what beliefs are orthodox, or who gets to keep their rights.

The Constitution mandates the government to uphold the basic rights of every citizen, regardless of gender, race or religion.

What’s more, Indonesia also protects approved religions from proselytizers, and this law often becomes a pretext for persecution.

It is used to silence minorities.

Ahmadiyah leaders, for example, have been instructed not to preach in public, and their members are prohibited from sharing their faith with others.

This is unacceptable, given our country’s democratic aspirations.

True, believers need some protection from the government.

After all, one cannot have religious freedom if one constantly faces physical or intellectual threat.

But the government needs to make sure that it does not give some people rights at the expense of others.

It rather should focus on protecting the basic human rights of all people, in order to create a safe environment for self-expression.

Indonesia’s religious ideology flies in the face of other parts of the Constitution, which grants every person the right to choose and practice his or her chosen religion.

The recognition of five religions came at a time when communism threatened the very integrity of the Constitution.

With that threat behind it, the country needs to recover its spirit of giving the people equal freedom to believe what they please.

To achieve this, Yudhoyono needs to revise the Constitution’s biggest barrier — a religious ideology that fuels persecution.

Just hours after the president’s comments last month, an Ahmadiyah mosque in Bogor was torched — again, to the surprise of no one.

If Indonesia maintains its current religious ideology, these events will continue to be the norm, and eloquent speeches won’t change a thing.

Robin Lee Santoso is an American graduate student focusing on religion and human rights.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/columns/the-thinker-losing-the-faith/404572

Indonesian Vice President: Stand Up Against Radicals

INDONESIA

Indonesian Vice President: Stand Up Against Radicals

Ulma Haryanto & Anita Rachman | October 18, 2010

Indonesian Vice President Boediono, left, with United States President Barack Obama at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC in April. In the strongest comments by a senior politician yet against creeping radicalism, Boediono said the country must not abandon the basic principle that guarantees religious freedom for all. (EPA Photo)

Jakarta. Vice President Boediono has received cautious praise after calling on the “silent majority” to take a stand against a growing radicalism that he describes as threatening to take the country down a path of destruction.

“Once we allow radicalism to take over our way of thinking, it will lead us toward destruction,” the vice president said in a speech on Saturday at the opening of the Global Peace Leadership Conference, organized by Nahdlatul Ulama.

“Freedom of expression has been used by certain groups to spread hatred,” he added.

Though racism and interreligious conflict are fundamental issues that exist in most societies, Boediono said, Indonesians should protect the foundation upon which the country was built — the principle of unity in diversity. “Although Islam is the religion of the majority of people, Indonesia is not an Islamic state,” he said.

Boediono said the country must not abandon the basic principle that guarantees religious freedom for all.

To do this, he called on the silent majority to take a stand. “Radicals are usually vocal, though they are few in number. They drown out the silent majority,” he said. “But there are times when the silent majority must dare to speak out. We must loudly reject radicalism and return to the original agreement of the founding fathers of the nation.”

Pluralism advocates applauded him for speaking out strongly on a threat they have long warned of but that officials have paid little attention to. Week after week, stories of discrimination against minority religious groups fill news pages, and several surveys have pointed to a worrying increase in intolerance among Indonesians.

Dhyah Madya Ruth, chairwoman of Lazuardi Birru, a group that aims to educate young people about the dangers of extremism, said it was important that the government made a clear stand.

“We have to create a synergy between the government, the people and civil society organizations in solving this problem,” she said. “Most important in this is not just the silent majority, but the silent government has to make a firm stand.”

Burhanuddin Muhtadi, an analyst from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had never strongly addressed radicalism.

In August Yudhoyono decried “groups that threatened the nation,” but his vague message could not be grasped by the public, Muhtadi said.

“He is too focused on his own image. He doesn’t want to be considered antagonistic toward Islamic hard-liners.”

Another important government figure who needs to stand up against those who promote hatred is the religious affairs minister, said Ulil Abshar Abdalla, the founder of the Liberal Islam Network and a Democratic Party politician.

“For example, in several Islamic gatherings people openly call for the banishment of [minority Islamic sect] Ahmadiyah. That should not be allowed,” he said, adding that he regretted that Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali had adopted a conservative approach that fostered radicalism. Suryadharma has openly advocated banning the Ahmadiyah sect.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/politics/indonesian-vice-president-stand-up-against-radicals/401881

Suspect’s Plight Reflects Sense of Injustice Felt by Ahmadiyah Followers

INDONESIA

Suspect’s Plight Reflects Sense of Injustice Felt by Ahmadiyah Followers

Nivell Rayda | October 17, 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)

Bogor. For the past two weeks, 35-year-old Ahmad Nuryamin has been sharing a four-by-six meter cell with 11 other detainees at the Bogor Police headquarters, some of them hardened criminals and rapists.

Nuryamin, or Yamin as he is known to friends and family, had signed a confession saying that he stabbed a 15-year-old boy. But he claims that he only signed it after being tortured by two police officers.

The boy, who has not been identified, is believed to have been part of a mob of some 200 people that on Oct. 1 burned and looted homes, schools and a mosque in the village of Cisalada, home to about 600 followers of the Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect.

“I didn’t stab anyone,” Yamin, an Ahmadiyah member and resident of Cisalada, told the Jakarta Globe. He said that when he saw people trying to burn down the village mosque with Molotov cocktails, he grabbed a kitchen knife from his home for protection and ran to help stop the attack.

“I put the knife in the left pocket of my jeans and ran to the mosque. Amid the chaos, a young boy bumped into my shoulder from behind,” he said. “I reacted instinctively and drew my knife. I could see him falling to the ground. He had a sword with him the whole time. But he immediately got up again and ran away.

“My knife couldn’t have hurt him. I didn’t see any blood on my knife or on my clothes. I even used the same knife to cut a guava later that night — I only have one knife at home you see. I even wore the same clothes when I was arrested the morning after.”

On Oct. 2, two police officers in civilian clothing arrived at Yamin’s home as he and his wife were drying rice.

“They told me that they just wanted to talk. So I went along and followed them to the back of a police pickup truck,” he said.

Yamin said that as they drove to the police station in Ciampea, the two officers punched him on the right side of his face and slapped him across his jaw, splitting his bottom lip.

“Confess, or I will drop you at Pasar Selasa [a local market] and let the mob finish you off. Confess, or I will let the mob burn your village to the ground once more,” one officer threatened, according to Yamin. “During my interrogation, I told the investigators what had happened. They didn’t listen to me and told me to shut my mouth, despite seeing first hand that I had bruises on my cheek and blood running from my lips. I never saw [those two officers] again. I never caught their names, but I can’t forget their faces.”

Bogor Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Tomex Kurniawan has pledged an internal investigation into the torture allegations, but said it was unlikely such force was used. “Why would we even use brute force?” he told the Globe. “We have incriminating evidence, including the kitchen knife that was used to stab the victim. We also have sworn statements from witnesses. A suspect can say whatever he wants, even in court. So we don’t really need a confession.”

Members of the Ahmadiyah, a sect founded in India in 1889, hold that the group’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was a prophet, a belief branded heresy by mainstream Muslims.

The nation’s top Islamic body, the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), issued a fatwa, or religious edict, in 2005 against the Ahmadiyah, calling its teachings blasphemous.

The MUI’s ruling was followed by a wave of violence against members of the sect, who had previously lived in relative peace among other Muslim populations. Amid intensifying calls to ban the sect, the government issued a joint ministerial decree in 2008 that prohibited its members from practicing their faith in public and from spreading its beliefs.

This month’s attack in Cisalada was the latest case of violence and intimidation toward members of the sect, estimated to be around 600,000 nationwide.

Similar vandalism and attacks on Ahmadiyah mosques and dwellings have occurred in other places like West Nusa Tenggara, where homes belonging to members of the sect in Lombok were burned in 2006, leaving more than 100 homeless.

The West Lombok district administration last week said it was planning to relocate the displaced Ahmadiyah members to a remote area, arguing that it was for their own protection.

In Cisalada, harassment against Ahmadiyah members was first recorded in 2007. That year, hundreds of people protested the renovation of the sect’s local mosque. Some even went as far as to vandalize the building materials at the site.

“So you can see why I had to protect the mosque,” Yamin said. “I’m not a religious man, but I couldn’t just stand there and watch as people burned our place of worship and the Koran. I just couldn’t.”

Like other countries, Indonesia recognizes the right to self-defense as justification for using force to counter acts of violence.

“But the use of force has to be proportional,” said Topo Santoso, a legal expert from the University of Indonesia.

He added that if the case went to court, Yamin would have to prove that he did not stab the boy out of vengeance or retaliation. Yamin would also have to prove that he was in immediate danger before defending himself.

“The right to defend oneself should only be used to stop a criminal act from happening, and that is for the court to decide,” Topo said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the Oct. 1 attack, which saw at least 17 homes looted, and two of them reduced to rubble. Bogor Police have charged three suspects — identified only as RM, DM and AB — said to have been directly involved in the attack. But unlike Yamin, they have not been taken into police custody.

“We don’t want to cause more problems. Our main concern is to prevent a repeat” of the attack on the Ahmadiyah community, said Tomex, the Bogor Police chief. “They have been cooperative. Several community leaders have also vouched for them, guaranteeing that they will not try to run away or destroy evidence.”

Bonar Tigor Naipospos, deputy chairman of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, a nongovernmental organization that promotes religious tolerance, said the fact that police had not yet detained the other three suspects fueled a sense of injustice among the Ahmadiyah.

“It goes to show that Ahmadiyah members are treated differently, not just in their everyday lives but also in the eyes of the law,” he said.

The activist said investigations into attacks against Ahmadiyah members were rare, and that perpetrators often escaped prosecution. “Police must also bring down the attack’s mastermind, financiers and provocateurs,” he said. “Only then will the attacks stop.”

The Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) recently said that the government’s inaction toward attacks against the Ahmadiyah had fueled intolerance and religious tensions.

According to a 2005 study conducted by LSI, only 13.9 percent of 1,000 respondents supported acts of violence towards the group. A similar survey released last week suggested that the number had grown to 30.2 percent.

The situation in Cisalada is starting to return to normal and police have pulled back most of the officers safeguarding the village. For Yamin and his family, however, it will be more difficult to return to their normal lives.

“I just hope Yamin can come home soon. He’s just a simple villager and an honest man,” Yamin’s brother, Dicky, told the Globe.

“Two of his three children were out playing when police arrested Yamin, the other one is just a baby. When the children returned home, their father was already in police custody. I’m having a hard time explaining to them what had happened to their father. I don’t want them to think that their father is a criminal.”

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/suspects-plight-r...yah-followers/401836

Ahmadiyah Intolerance Has Flourished on Indonesian President’s Watch: Survey

Indonesia

Ahmadiyah Intolerance Has Flourished on Indonesian President’s Watch: Survey

Nivell Rayda & Camelia Pasandaran | October 12, 2010

Jakarta. The level of intolerance among the Muslim community toward the Ahmadiyah sect has more than doubled during the six years of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s rule, a survey indicates.

In the study by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI), 30.2 percent of 1,000 respondents in 100 towns and cities across Indonesia supported acts of violence against the sect, which many mainstream Muslims deem deviant.

LSI researcher Adrian Sopa said this was a sharp increase from a similar survey in 2005 that showed only 13.9 percent of respondents backed such moves.

“The government must do something before the problem escalates,” he said.

“[President Susilo Bambang] Yudhoyono must put an end to hate speeches and attacks and ensure religious freedom.”

However, in a speech on Tuesday, Yudhoyono blamed the rise of hard-line activity on the country’s transition toward a fully fledged democracy.

“In a large-scale transformation, there might be disorientation and resistance,” he said.

“It often causes uncomfortable feelings [and leads to different groups] blaming each other. It happens because the old values have been abandoned while the new values have not been properly established.”

The LSI’s latest survey comes on the heels of an attack against the Ahmadiyah and a plan to banish them to an island.

On Oct. 1, hundreds of attackers ransacked and burned down houses, schools and a mosque in Cisalada village, home to 600 followers of the minority sect.

On Monday, meanwhile, the district head of West Lombok announced plans to relocate a group of Ahmadiyah refugees to a deserted island to quell the local community’s unrest over their presence there.

The LSI concluded the growing number of attacks against Ahmadiyah was rooted in the government’s failure to prosecute the perpetrators.

A similar study released last month by the Center for the Study of Islam and Society found “a worrying increase” in religious intolerance among Muslims in 2010 compared with 2001.

Of 1,200 adult Muslim men and women surveyed nationwide, 57.8 percent said they were against the construction of churches and other non-Muslim places of worship — the highest level recorded by the study center since 2001.

More than a quarter, or 27.6 percent, said they would object to non-Muslims teaching their children in school, up from 21.4 percent in 2008.

Center chief Jajat Burhanudin said the results were “good news for radical groups” in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority state.

“Religious intolerance encourages people to become radicals, join terrorist networks or at least support the agenda of fundamentalists who commit violence in the name of religion,” he said.

Indonesia’s Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, while the country of 240 million people, 80 percent of whom are Muslim, has ratified the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Followers of Ahmadiyah, a sect founded in India in 1889, profess the group’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the last prophet, (*) a belief that runs counter to mainstream Islamic beliefs that reserve that distinction for the Prophet Muhammad.

In 2005, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued a fatwa, or edict, calling the sect’s teachings blasphemous.

Since then, a string of violent acts and discrimination against members of the group have gone mainly unpunished.

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.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL:: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/ahmadiyah-intole...ts-watch-survey/401025

Officials Announce Plan to Relocate Ahmadiyah Families to a Deserted Island

Indonesia

Officials Announce Plan to Relocate Ahmadiyah Families to a Deserted Island

Nivell Rayda | October 11, 2010

A follower of the minority Islamic sect, Ahmadiyah, holding a burnt copy of the Koran in Ciampea, West Java, after violence directed at the Islamic sect earlier this month. In what is likely to be a hugely controversial — if not illegal — decision, authorities in West Nusa Tenggar plan to relocated 20 sect families to a deserted island in Lombok. (Reuters Photo/Dadang Tri)

akarta. A district head in West Nusa Tenggara announced plan to relocate 20 Ahmadiyah families to a deserted island, a move many say is both discriminatory and inhumane.

“We are trying to protect Ahmadiyah members,” Zaini Arony, district head of West Lombok, said on Monday, as quoted by Antara.

Zaini said he had discussed the matter with religious figures and members of society, adding that it had been agreed that Ahmadiyah members would be relocated to an island in Sekotong subdistrict.

He claimed the local government feared a repeat of an incident in February 2006 when thousands of mainstream Muslims burned homes belonging to Ahmadiyah members in the district.

The incidents left as many as 137 people homeless, all of whom had to be escorted by police officers to a temporary shelter in the provincial capital, Mataram.

In August, at least 20 families left the shelter and returned to the district. Zaini said their return was rejected by a number of groups.

Zafrullah Pontoh, the president of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI), told the Jakarta Globe that the West Lombok government had never discussed the matter with the sect. “The local government is trying to banish Ahmadiyah from West Lombok,” he said.

Followers of Ahmadiyah, a sect founded in India in 1889, profess that the group’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, is the last prophet, a belief that runs counter to mainstream Islamic beliefs that reserve that claim for the Prophet Muhammad.

The nation’s highest authority on Islamic affairs, the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), issued a fatwa in 2005 against the Ahmadiyah, calling its teachings blasphemous. And the government issued a joint ministerial decree in 2008 banning its members from practicing their faith in public or spreading its beliefs.

Ulil Abshar Abdalla, founder of the Liberal Islam Network and a Democratic Party politician, said the government must remain neutral and not support calls of intolerance against Ahmadiyah from mainstream Muslim groups.

“It needs time to correct religious indoctrination [in mainstream Muslim] that spur hatred towards Ahmadiyah. It needs time to reach cultural maturity to accept different views,” he said.

“However, I am saddened that the government is supporting this cultural immaturity and making it a political policy.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/officials-announc...a-deserted-island/400659

Three Suspects for Mob Attack on Ahmadiyah

Indonesia

Three Suspects for Mob Attack on Ahmadiyah

Zaky Pawas | October 08, 2010

Jakarta. Police in Bogor have identified three suspects in last week’s torching of homes and a mosque belonging to members of the Ahmadiyah sect, but have not yet arrested any of them.

The attack on the evening of Oct. 1 saw a mob of hundreds ransack and burn 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.

Since then, police have arrested an Ahmadiyah member for allegedly stabbing one of the attackers, a 15-year-old boy, during the incident.

On Friday, Adj. Comr. Zulkarnaen Harahap, the Bogor Police’s chief of detectives, said three of the alleged attackers — identified only as RM, DM and AB — had been named suspects in the case, but would not yet be taken into custody.

“We’re not detaining them because they’ve been vouched for by community leaders and their families. But they will have to report in regularly,” he said, adding that the trio would be charged with assault, vandalism and arson.

Zulkarnaen said the suspects had been questioned by police on Friday afternoon at the Ciampea subdistrict police station.

“During the questioning, all three suspects were cooperative,” he said. “Two of them claimed they didn’t do anything, so we’re going to try to strengthen the evidence that shows they were involved in the incident.”

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/three-suspects-for-mob-attack-on-ahmadiyah/400378

Editorial: Our Next Police Chief Must Restore Order

EDITORIAL

Editorial: Our Next Police Chief Must Restore Order

October 06, 2010

The sole candidate to take the helm of the National Police, Comr. Gen. Timur Pradopo, has a tough job ahead if he is appointed to the post. He must restore public trust in the police, maintain law and order and inject some discipline on Jakarta’s often chaotic roads.

Timur, until earlier this week the capital’s chief of police, has strongly suggested that he would uphold the law at any cost.

This is a welcome statement given the rising public concern over thuggery and the use of violence by certain organizations to force their views on others.

His commitment to the law will be closely scrutinized, especially given his supposed links to the radical Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

Pradopo told the media that he intended to include all segments of society, including the hard-line Islamic group, in efforts to maintain security. But he also added that he would not hesitate to act if any group violated the laws of the land.

Involving local communities to provide security in neighborhoods across Jakarta is nothing new.

Local neighborhood watch groups were established in the wake of the 1998 riots to be on the lookout for outsiders or strangers who might be bent on mischief.

While most of these watch groups have disbanded, many communities still police their own neighborhoods.

Such civic groups may play an important role in maintaining security but they cannot not replace the police, which not only have to provide security but also maintain law and order.

This is where the next commander of the National Police will have to devote a substantial amount of his time and energy given the breakdown of order in the capital city in recent months, including a deadly brawl between street gangs outside a courthouse last week.

There can be no excuse for the police to allow militant groups to continue to run roughshod over minorities.

Acts of violence such as attacks on Christians in Bekasi and the burning of an Ahmadiyah mosque must not be tolerated.

Individuals cannot be allowed to take the law into their own hands, under any circumstance.

We cannot, as a civilized and law abiding society sanction paramilitary organizations to operate on behalf of the police.

If named to lead the police, Timur must provide better training for officers and strive toward building a professional and highly motivated force.

Following the separation of the police from the military a decade ago, the police have made great strides in improving professionalism and providing better public service.

This must continue, along with rooting out the widespread corruption that dishonors the badge.

The recent raids and arrest of terrorists are a shining example of excellent police work. The longer-term goal, however, must be to serve the public in the best manner possible.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/editorial-our-next-p...store-order/400026

Proposed New Indonesian Police Chief Defends ‘Closeness’ to Islamic Defenders Front

INDONESIA

Proposed New Indonesian Police Chief Defends ‘Closeness’ to Islamic Defenders Front

Anita Rachman | October 06, 2010

Indonesia’s controversial proposed new National Police chief Comr. Gen. Timur Pradopo, pictured, says the police should be close to all groups, including Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), to maintain security. (Antara Photo)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s proposed new National Police chief Comr. Gen. Timur Pradopo has defended his links to the radical Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

Responding to questions from reporters at the House of Representatives (DPR) on Wednesday, the former Jakarta Police chief said “we should be close to all” groups, including the FPI.

The militant organization, which comprises a small but vocal group of radicals, often resorts to violence to further its conservative aims, including ransacking bars and attacking peaceful demonstrators. Allegations also persist that the group is closely linked to Indonesian security forces.

“We should be close to all [groups] to maintain security in this country,” Timur said.

The comments could provoke controversy, with many secular Indonesian Muslims opposed to the FPI’s antisecular views and ongoing criticisms against the police for failing to act against the hard-line group.

Timur met with five House leaders, including House Speaker Marzuki Alie, at 9 a.m.

Deputy House Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso told the press they wanted to discuss a number of items, including the fit-and-proper test that is expected to be held on Monday.

“We wanted an explanation, including what people at large have been talking about, that there are internal divisions within National Police, which he said there aren’t,” Priyo said. “This is a kind of warning from us: Don’t let the factions within the Police grow.”

Priyo was referring to allegations that police had split into camps supporting National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri’s two initial recommendations to the president, namely Comr. Gen. Nanan Soekarna, the police’s Internal Affairs head, and Comr. Gen. Imam Sudjarwo, the chief of the police’s Training and Education Division.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s surprise nomination of Timur, according to some speculation, was an attempt to head off divisions with National Police over the appointment.

Priyo said the House leaders also told Timur that he should continue to reform the police, which continues to be perceived as resistant to reform, with allegations of high-level corruption, human rights abuses and a lack of professionalism persisting.

Human rights activists on Tuesday urged the House to reject Timur’s nomination, saying he had a questionable track record, including his refusal to answer three summonses from the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas Ham) to clarify his involvement in the shooting of students in the Semanggi area of Jakarta in November 1998, when he was still active as chief of Central Jakarta Police.

Priyo said they did not specifically ask Timur about the Semanggi incidents but would do so.

“Our message to him, if he finally sits in the top position in the National Police, is if he wants to be successful he should never get tempted by politics, political practices,” Priyo said.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/proposed-new-i...fenders-front/399873

In defense of Islam, vigilante justice in Indonesia

Indonesia Home / Asia / Indonesia

In defense of Islam, vigilante justice in Indonesia

Indonesian government sits idly by as Islamic Defender's Front, called thugs by most, runs amok.

By Sara Schonhardt — Special to GlobalPost
Published: August 23, 2010 06:44 ET in Asia

Indonesian Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab gestures as he delivers a speech to his supporters inside the court room after his trial in Jakarta on Oct. 30, 2008. (Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images)

JAKARTA, Indonesia — They call themselves the Islamic Defenders Front and they say their mission is to stamp out sinful acts and to protect the poor and marginalized.

But the majority of Indonesians in this moderate Muslim nation call them thugs. They say the FPI, as they are known here, are tarnishing the image of both Islam and Indonesia.

In only the last few months the group has been accused of attacking churches, raiding suspected communist conferences and waging assaults against minority religions.

A showdown took place in the Jakarta suburb of Bekasi earlier this month when a stick-wielding mob of FPI members attacked and beat around 20 members of the Batak Christian Protestant Church.

And through it all, Indonesia’s secular government has largely stood idly by and, in some cases, offered support. In most cases the country’s leaders have remained silent, even as FPI attacks grow increasingly frequent and increasingly violent.

The FPI argues that the Batak congregation is worshipping without the proper government permits and is threatening Muslim society by proselytizing.

Bonar Tigor Naipospos, vice chairman of the Setara Institute, which works to promote democracy and peace, said the FPI is using the threat of Christianization to strengthen their position, to gain sympathy and spread their ideology to their followers.

According to a recent study by the institute, acts of violence against Christians are on the rise, which could signal that religious tensions, which always seem to be simmering in Indonesia, are coming to a boil.

“Some politicians in the West use Indonesia as a model of moderate Islam, but behind the surface the embryo of intolerance still exists,” Naipospos said. “And if the Indonesian government doesn’t do something, this embryo will get stronger.”

During an Islamic congress in June, FPI leader Habib Rizieq said evangelicals were Christianizing Muslims by offering them social services like free health care and education. They were also performing hypnosis and constructing illegal churches, he said.

Murhali Barda, the leader of the FPI’s Bekasi branch, had been preparing for a clash.

“My Muslim brothers…!!! Come to Ciketing..!!” He wrote on his Facebook page the day before the attack. “Help our brothers that were walked all over by the Batak people … church business people, moneylenders, pig and dog eaters!”

Angry tweets began trending on Twitter after news of the attack broke, just one among many in recent weeks. Forced church closures and protests against community activity, such as the butchering of pigs, have also made recent headlines.

The occasion forced Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to break his silence on FPI’s attacks. The president, however, said only that anarchic behavior would not be permitted during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

“But it is permitted,” said Sidney Jones, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, which monitors security issues. “The easiest thing would be to arrest the perpetrators, and it’s not clear to me why they have refrained from doing so.”

In 2008, following an assault on a peaceful rally in support of religious freedom, police did arrest nearly 60 FPI members, including Rizieq. The FPI kingpin was later sentenced to 18 months in prison for helping organize the attack against the supporters of Ahmadiyah, an Islamic sect many conservative Muslims consider heretical since they refuse to accept Mohammad as Islam’s final prophet.

But the arrests were mostly a response to public outrage. And while the government stopped short of completely banning the Ahmadis as the FPI had demanded, it did issue a ministerial decree prohibiting Ahmadis from practicing their faith or proselytizing in public, appearing to again side with religious hardliners instead of religious pluralists.

Jones said it was unacceptable that the Indonesian police and military have stood by and let these attacks continue. Individuals in the FPI should be prosecuted for assault, but the police should also be held responsible, she said.

Both Jakarta’s governor and one of its police chiefs attended the FPI’s 12th-anniversary celebration earlier this month in what is thought to have been an attempt to enlist the group’s material, and perhaps political, support.

And even though the Religious Affairs Ministry in March named the FPI among nearly 70 potentially illegal sects because its actions deviated from the country’s accepted Islamic teachings, the government still took no action against the group.

Started with police and military backing in 1998, the FPI was originally part of a group of street-level militias aimed at countering the student-led, democratic reform movement and providing security to then-president B.J. Habibie. The FPI has since gained notoriety for conducting vigilante crackdowns on “un-Islamic” activities, which, before recently, usually only involved aggressive raids on bars and nightclubs during Ramadan.

FPI members say their actions are not antagonistic to Islam and that they are merely upholding their duty to rid society of sin.

“FPI has one mission and one vision, and that is to eliminate tyranny and to enforce truth and justice,” said H. Chep Hernawan, head of the Islamic Reform Movement. “Our ulemas [Muslim scholars] and Muslim warriors are the ones who fought against the colonizers. So, I think it’s normal if we want to enforce Islamic law.”

The FPI are not religious crusaders, however. Ian Wilson, a researcher of radical groups-cum-gangs at Australia’s Murdock University, said its members frame issues in religious terms but are not on the same page ideologically as Islamic terrorist organizations like Jemaah Islamiyah.

“Their whole rationale is to stir up trouble … to be in the public eye,” he said.

Barda, who wears a wrap-around skirt and white skullcap often associated with conservative Islam, said FPI’s activities in Bekasi are based on the wishes of the community, which it works to coordinate and strengthen against people who might pose threats, namely the Christian Batak, an ethnic group originally from the neighboring island of Sumatra.

For more than a month the Batak congregation has been praying in a field in Ciketing, on the outskirts of Jakarta, where demonstrators meet them each Sunday demanding they cease prayers and leave the area.

Christian groups must have the consent of the surrounding community to establish a place of worship, and the hardliners say they are fighting the Batak because they refuse to abide by the law.

But when asked about rumors of declining membership numbers among the FPI, Barda, who likes speaking in idioms, only laughed. He said all he needs to do is produce a magnet and the nails will come to him.

“We are small, but we have many supporters,” he said.

Copyright 2010 GlobalPost — International News

URL: www.globalpost.com/dispatch/indonesia/100822/fpi-islam-vigilante-justice