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Editorial: Religious persecution
Fri, 04/18/2008 10:05 AM | Opinion
Here is an important announcement. Indonesia has officially stopped being the tolerant nation it has always proclaimed to be, especially when it comes to religion. The country with the world's largest Muslim population, one that has long prided itself for its diversity and peaceful coexistence between people of different faiths, is no longer a safe place, particularly for religious minorities.
Never mind what the Constitution and the state ideology Pancasila say -- that freedom of religion is guaranteed and that citizens are protected to practice their faith. Today, those are mere ornamental words. The reality on the ground is the state has started to persecute people for their religious beliefs.
On Wednesday, a government panel decided that Ahmadiyah, a Muslim sect that has its origins in India but now has followers worldwide, including in Indonesia, is heretic and contravenes the tenets of Islam. The Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs -- comprising government prosecutors, police and officials of the religious affairs and home ministries -- issued a recommendation that Ahmadiyah, as a religious organization, be banned, along with all its activities.
The ball is in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's court, being the person authorized to ban any organization. But there is real fear that before he makes his ruling, the recommendation itself will be sufficient for various vigilante groups to start attacking and harassing followers of Ahmadiyah.
Many followers of Ahmadiyah have already had to live in makeshift shelters after coming under violent attacks in recent years from vigilante groups who acted on the fatwa (religious edict) of the Indonesian Ulema Council declaring Ahmadiyah heretic. The police, whose duty it is to ensure that every religious minority is protected, did not make much of an effort to prevent the violence. Typically, they only evacuated Ahmadiyah followers to safety and then gave the thugs free reign to destroy and burn down property belonging to the group.
Now, the same vigilante groups and many others like them will be encouraged to resume their attacks. Even the police will be required to act upon a ban and start rounding up the followers of Ahmadiyah. If this is not state-sanctioned religious persecution, then we don't know what is.
No wonder the first reaction from Ahmadiyah leaders when the ban recommendation came Wednesday was to brace themselves for violent attacks and to defend themselves. They knew too that they no longer could count on the protection of the state and the police against future attacks.
What is most disturbing is the way representatives of the conservative Muslims flexed their muscles to secure the ban, at times using violent language, forcing the government to comply.
This is the first time in the republic's history that the state, which proclaims to be neither theocratic nor secular, has interfered in the substance of the religion. In the past, the state restricted its role to ensuring freedom of religion and the right for everyone to practice their faith. It leaves the question of the right or wrong of particular teachings to religious leaders. Wednesday's recommendation broke the long-held taboo and clearly shows the state siding with the Muslim conservatives by agreeing Ahmadiyah is heresy and contravenes the tenets of Islam.
This is setting a dangerous precedent, for no religion is safe now from the possibility of having its beliefs probed and judged to contravene Islam. That literally means just about every existing religion. One wonders, now that the conservative Muslims have had their way, who they will target next. They know the state will again be submissive to their will.
This is the state playing God, a dangerous game that would spell the end of the religious diversity that has always underpinned this republic. We may as well declare Indonesia an Islamic state. At least the rules of the game for the religious minorities are clear. Today, we have a government that is failing in its constitutional duty to protect the religious minorities.
It is encouraging to see that Muslim leaders from the moderate camp quickly distanced themselves from the recommendation by the government panel and denounced it as a violation of the Constitution (which, incidentally, is an impeachable offense).
Former Muhammadiyah chairman Syafii Ma'arif and leading Islamic scholar Azyumardi Azra both said the recommendation reflects the views of "extremist" elements in Islam rather than the "moderate" that continue to preach peace, tolerance and respect for religious differences.
More of them should come out of their shell and speak out about the real Islam.
If the state can no longer be counted on to defend Ahmadiyah followers, then the task should be taken up by moderate and peace-loving Muslims. They, along with leaders of religious minorities, should join hands in fighting religious extremists in our society (and apparently, in our government) and prevent this country from degenerating into a lawless state.
This republic was built upon, among other things, religious diversity and religious freedom. You take those away and you may as well forget about the republic. May God be with us.
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Tahir Iqbal, USA (not verified) — Thu, 05/08/2008 - 8:36am
My dear brothers in Indonesia,
I visited your beautiful country couple of times in mid 90s and found it not only immensly beautiful but also the atmosphere very tolerant and people very loving. The recent news of hatred towards Ahmadiyya sect is very painful. I want to remind Indonesian brothers that hatred has never paid well. I want to remind you that Afghans displayed their extrme hatred towards Ahamdiyya over 100 years back by stoning to death a very noble and respected religious figure (Sahbizada Abdul Latif) whose only "sin" was to have accepted the truth of Ahmadiyya. History bears witness and testimony that in the past over 100 years Afghanistan has never seen peace and Allah has "stoned" the entire Afghan nation and Allah's wrath continues to descend on that unfortunate nation ever since "Shahadat" of that noble person.
I also want to remind my Indonesian brothers that it was in 1974 that in Pakistan a handful bunch of illinformed mulahs and politicians let loose reins of terror and "zulm" on Ahmadiyya sect and threw them out of folds of Islam. Recall the history of Pakistan since 1974. Allah has taken the peace from that nation and Pakistani nation has seen the worst wrath of Allah eversince then.
Dear Indonesian brothers, if you love your country and yourselves and your next generations, please have fear of Allah and refrain from such an action that will call wrath of Allah.
I pray that may Allah give wisdom to leaders of Indonesia to save their great country and the innocent Indonesian public from wrath of Allah that is bound to come if they interfere in the domain of Allah by terrorising and doing "zulm" on His innocent people of Ahmadiyya sect.
Tahir Iqbal
USA
Stephanie Anderson (not verified) — Sun, 05/04/2008 - 12:14am
Nothing new. Indonesian Muslims have been persecuting Indonesian Christians for years and years now. Beheadings, gang murders of innocent people walking down the street, beatings, Muslim plice letting it happen and even taking part in the atrocities. If you have the stomach for it here is the pictures of the poor victims, even beheaded children!
Basheer — Sat, 04/26/2008 - 10:42am
"LOVE FOR ALL HATRED FOR NONE"
Let me congratulate you for standing up with the Ahmadies in defending their rights to practice their belief. Well done!
I wonder sometimes, the so called care takers of Islam have had never showed their similar face when organisations plan and conduct criminal activities in the name of Islam. where as Ahmadies on the other hand is well known for their peaceful practice of religion, humanitarion efforts and above all defending Islam when and wherever it is needed...all efforts in a peaceful manner strictly adhering to their motto, "LOVE FOR ALL HATRED FOR NONE"
Dear President, You may be aware of the fact that on hearing the demise of founder of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the well known leader and scholar of Indian Muslims Mr. Abdul Kalam Azad wrote in his obituary,
"The literature produced by Mirza sahib in his confrontation with the Christians and the Aryas has received the seal of general approval, and for this distinction he needs no introduction. We have to acknowledge the value and greatness of this literature from the bottom of our hearts, now that it has done its work. This is because that time cannot be forgotten nor effaced from the mind when Islam was besieged by attacks on all sides, and the Muslims, who had been entrusted with the defence of Islam by the Real Defender, as the means of defence in this world of causes and means, were lying flat sobbing in the aftermath of their shortcomings, doing nothing for Islam or not being able to do anything for it. ...
"So, this service rendered by Mirza sahib will place the coming generations under a debt of gratitude, in that he fulfilled his duty of the defence of Islam by joining the front rank of those engaged in the jihad by the pen, and he left behind him as a memorial such literature as will last so long as Muslims have blood flowing in their veins ..."
(Wakeel, Amritsar)
Now see, how the Muslims shows their gratitude by demanding to ban his followers in the name of Islam!!
Aditya (not verified) — Fri, 04/25/2008 - 8:03pm
As long as Muslim's holy book is not revisited and revamped to reflect only the good and virtous verses, there will always be bloodshed and wars in the world.
Radical and moderate Muslims practise their faith from the same holy book and both claim to be the right interpreter of it. Both also claim to be the right one in adopting their faith the true Islamic way. How could this be? Can they sense that there's something very wrong somewhere?
Has it ever dawned on them that maybe what Geert Wilders said is right? I dare the Muslims to think and reflect.
The Reader (not verified) — Mon, 04/21/2008 - 9:28am
In Response to Soemarwoto, K
You are very defensive when presented with Hendro’s evidence, I wonder why? Because you can’t deny any of his facts, right?
At any rate, I don’t think Hendro was being sarcastic, his comment talked about the actions of “Islamic extremism: and “radical Muslim groups”.
However I can understand how you take this as a generalization and indictment of all Muslims. It’s quite natural. Because after all, mainstream Muslims in Indonesia remained quiet during these acts of religious persecution. They did not protest against the extremists or tell the government to protect these Christians. They just sat back and watched. Just as they are doing nothing to stop the persecution of the Ahmadiyah followers.
You must understand that this is why Westerners so often vilify Islam. It is not just because they only see the actions of the worst extremists and radicals, it is also because they never hear mainstream Muslims actively condemning them! Oh sure, they may “say” they don’t agree with the actions of the extremists when pressed, but as they say, talk is cheap. If mainstream Muslims don’t actively try to fight extremism and radicalism, why shouldn’t they be seen as giving tacit approval to these intolerant and hateful actions? They are no better than the Germans in WWII who were not in the Nazi army but did nothing to stop them. This is why many in the West scoff and roll their eyes when they are told that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance. The few violent and intolerant Muslims are able to shout much louder than the vast majority of peaceful and tolerant Muslims because the radicals yell and the moderates choose to remain silent.
Mirza Imran Ahsan (not verified) — Sun, 04/20/2008 - 6:48pm
I am an Ahmadi living in Australia for a number of years. I always considered Indonesia a beacon of hope in Islamic world. Pakistan introduced similar constitutional amendment in 1974 against Ahmadis and declared us non-Muslims by definition of law. Since then the Islamic clergy did not stop there. They continued their hatreds against other sects. 1980s saw a great escalation in Shiite-Sunni conflict. Pakistan's minority Christians were also targeted at different occasions on the pretext of blasphmy. If you take Shiite-SUnni killings alone in the country, it may have reached 20,000+ in the last 20 years. Indonesia must learn lessons from another big Muslim country. Tolerance for different ideas and religions is very important part of Islamic faith. The Holy Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him) formed a true state with justice and equality for everyone in Medina. He forged great friendships with the local people not after converting them into Islam but before that. Every Muslim must follow his traditions in true spirit otherwise chaos and anarchy will spread in Indonesia too. It will be great disappointment for many Muslims around the world who look upon Indonesia as a model state.
Soemarwoto, K (not verified) — Sat, 04/19/2008 - 10:30pm
In response to Hendro:
It seems that you are a Christian, good for you. It's a pity that you based your view on such limited samples of individuals from the more than 1 billion global Muslim population. It's like if I were to meet some annoying individuals who just happen to go to Church every Sunday, and thereby conclude that Christianity is a religion that encourages annoying others.
It's very common to meet annoying people, you know. Yet, funny enough, I don't imply generalizations about their religion through sarcasm.
DSC (not verified) — Sat, 04/19/2008 - 10:05pm
Excellent article with which I fully agree. I may add that if someone addresses a crowd and shouts "Kill, kill, kill" (the Ahmadis) as reported in this newspaper a couple of days ago, this constitutes a criminal act which can and should be prosecuted (inciting to murder). That this not happens shows perhaps that among the (legal) decision makers are influential people who side with fundamentalists who have chosen to use violence, and thus ignore constitutional rights.
Borsa — Sat, 04/19/2008 - 10:09am
For the past few hundred years much progress has been achieved in our understanding of the origin and evolution of our universe, and the evolution of life on this planet, including the evolution of animals, including Man.
We now know God is not a credible explanation for the origin and the evolution of life.
However, these overwhelming scientific facts still encounter incredulity from many people. Despite benefitting materially from science, many humans persist in believing in God, religion, and lots of other superstitions. And the irony is that some extremists are ready to defend their irrational values, using violence, against others who think differently.
Philippe Borsa, Noumea, New Caledonia
Azad Zumman (not verified) — Fri, 04/18/2008 - 11:34pm
Allah has shown them a lot of warning signals. Few years ago Tsunami like disaster was there. Indonesia should be very careful about this. If Ahmadiyya bears perfect Islam in their mind then the Indonesian policy makers will see red eyes of Allah again. However, May Allah help them to take right decisions.