Who's put the horse behind the cart again?

Ahmadiyah followers 'must obey' law: Suryadharma

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta Fri, 04/20/2012


Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali is telling Ahmadiyah followers to obey the law despite the fact that it was them and their properties that were under attack on Friday morning.

“There might have been something wrong in the region. We must to promote discussion to settle this kind of issues. But the Ahmadis must also obey the law,” he said on Friday at the State Palace.

Suryadharma was referring to the 2008 joint ministerial decree banning members of the Ahmadiyah Indonesia Congregation (JAI) from propagating their religious beliefs.

A group of vigilantes attacked an Ahmadiyah mosque called Baitul Rahim in Babakan Sindang village, Tasikmalaya, West Java.

The attackers reportedly threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the mosque, leaving shattered glasses and destroyed praying facilities.

The attack came after another group of people sealed the mosque.

They claimed Ahmadiyah followers were not allowed to conduct prayers in the village, but Ahmadis remained doing so.

Suryadharma said he had not received a complete report on the incident.

When asked why attacks against minorities kept happening in the country, Suryadharma said, “legal offenders must be charged and the Ahmadis must leave defiant belief.”

Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto said the West Java Police were investigating the incident.

Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi also said he had not received comprehensive report on the Singaparna incident, but suggested the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) might have been involved in the attack, following reports saying the attackers wore attributes depicting symbols of the hardline group.

Gamawan said the government had warned the FPI twice for the latter’s violent acts.

“Another big-scale violence made by the FPI would mean that the organization is eligible to be frozen,” he said.

When asked for comments, FPI spokesman Munarman said, “Why do you always accuse us? Why didn’t you ask for my comments on when FPI members, for example, were intimidated in Palangkaraya recently?”

Munarman was referring to an incident at the Tjilik Riwut Airport in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, in February, when FPI members who just arrived were blocked by locals who did not want the hardline group to come to and settle in their city

( x the JP)

(once again a great example of politicians double speak, did they all go to the same school?)siK.

The Jakarta Post, Bandung, West Java Fri, 04/20/2012


In exile: In this Oct. 27, 2006, file photo, an Ahmadiyah follower cries while hugging a friend after saying Idul Fitri prayer at their refugee camp in Mataram in West Nusa Tenggara. (JP/Panca Nugraha)Hundreds of people attacked an Ahmadiyah mosque in Babakan Sindang village, Tasikmalaya, West Java, prior to a Friday prayer, showing further evidence of attacks against minorities in the country.

According to Ahmadiyah follower Enda Juanda, initially there were dozens of people gathering around the mosque at around 9 a.m., with some wearing white and green garments and others carrying Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) flags.

“They initially shouted. But they started throwing stones at windows a few minutes later and broke into the mosque,” Enda told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Enda was inside the mosque with his friend Didi when they started to storm into the mosque and burn the rugs and prayer mats.

“I instinctively ran and saved myself. I am sure there is nothing wrong with my belief,” he said.

The Ahmadiyah community’s Tasikmalaya branch spokesman Budi Badrussalam said attackers unleashed three Molotov cocktails that burned the mosque’s rug and prayer mats.

People were able to put out the fire before it expanded, and no casualties or injuries were reported.

Spokesman of the FPI’s Tasikmalaya branch, Acep Sofyan, said the attackers were not FPI members, but people from “various Islamic organizations, locals and students” of Islamic boarding schools in the vicinity.

Although he said none of the attackers were FPI members, he said they did not throw Molotov cocktails at the mosque, and that there were people provoking them to burn prayer mats in the mosque.

“We instantly put out the fire,” Acep said.

He alleged that the attackers were furious after Ahmadiyah followers insisted on using the mosque for prayer, despite the fact that district authorities had sealed it.

The authorities took the measure, he said, after receiving complaints from locals.

It was the second attack that had happened to Ahmadiyah followers in West Java and their properties over the past two months.

On Feb. 17, an Ahmadiyah mosque in Cisaar village, Cianjur, West Java, was also under attack.

Some 80 Ahmadis, both male and female, insisted on performing a Friday prayer at the damaged mosque while their mosque was being vandalized.

Budi said he regretted police officers and local officials who allowed the incident to take place under their nose.

“That is a historical mosque, which was built in 1920. The Serang Archeological Preservation Agency has categorized it as a historical building,” Budi said.

Tasikmalaya Police chief Adj. Comr. Gupuh Setiyono denied that the police had allowed the vandalism to occur.

He said police had tried to persuade the local people, who rejected Ahmadiyah followers, to talk to them a day before the incident took place.

However, he pointed his finger at the Ahmadis, who he said had provoked the attack.

“At first, people came only to put up banners and hand over their statements concerning their objection to the Ahmadis’ activities in the area,” Gupuh said.

“But an Ahmadi started to vent provocative words that made people [on the other side] angry and instigate the attack.”

He said the police would investigate the case according to procedure.

He added that he would set up a meeting with the Cult Surveillance Coordinating Agency (Bakorpakem), the Indonesian Ulema Council and local figures to determine ways to minimize any implications that might follow.