Muslim pundits could borrow Bill Clinton's phrase "It's the economy, stupid," to remind President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) not to ban Islamic sect Ahmadiyah. It is very unlikely, however, the President will have the courage to stick to the 1945 Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression and religion.
They should ask SBY, whose charm may again lure housewives into voting for him in the 2009 presidential election as it did during his first campaign, to tame skyrocketing staple food prices instead of handling issues unrelated to the lives of his voters.
Knowing his track record as Mr. Doubtful, it is nearly definite SBY would ban Ahmadiyah to please potential supporters, including members of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) who declared Ahmadiyah as deviant.
Prohibiting the Islamic sect, which has already suffered attacks by hardliners, would amount to further proof the President is incapable of upholding democracy.
If he does prohibit it, let us just throw away all our pride for being citizens of the third largest democracy in the world.
Anti-Islam critics would say, "No, I tell you, the religion is really not compatible with the political system currently applied by almost all developed and civilized nations in the universe."
Violence in the country, according to scholar Jalaluddin Rakhmat, is actually not owing to Islam. Incidents of brutality have been mostly down to international ideology (from Middle Eastern influences to be precise) adopted by certain ulemas. He refused to mention their names.
The ulema council, unchanged since its founding during the Soeharto era, argued that Rabithah Alam Islami (the Association of the World of Islam), and not only MUI, had earlier prohibited the sect.
Although the council always claimed it never suggested attacks on Ahmadiyah followers, the properties belonging to those followers were destroyed and the damage cannot be undone.
The Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, the country's two largest Muslim organizations, have urged their followers to refrain from violence against Ahmadiyah, but their mere suggestion is not enough.
Perhaps we should no longer trust NU's chairman, Hasyim Muzadi, or Muhammadiyah's leader, Din Syamsuddin, because they have failed to support Ahmadiyah's rights in Indonesia.
From here on, we should not regard these two men as democratic moderate Muslim leaders because they have supported discrimination against a religious sect. It's time to start considering their organizations as no different from other orthodox groups.
The violence has derived from differing interpretations of one word: "Nabi" (prophet). Ahmadiyah followers believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the sect, was a Nabi of lower ranking compared to the Prophet Muhammad.
Ahmadiyah followers, as with the majority of Muslims in the world, believe the term Nabi is actually similar to ulama, mawlana and wali.
Whatever kind of theological debate rages, violence cannot be tolerated. Isn't Islam very tolerant of differing opinions? Actually, many Muslims would say Ahmadiyah beliefs cannot be defined in terms of differing opinions.
SBY is not a referee in a soccer game able to issue a red card to Ahmadiyah because the group has not violated the constitution. Indeed, Yudhoyono himself is the one eligible to receive a red card, in the form of impeachment, for violating the law.
SBY, a retired military general, should have enough bullets to crack down on instigators wishing to establish a society of violence, instead of civility.
Some democratic Muslims prefer to use the term Masyarakat Madani, which refers to a society during the era of Prophet Muhammad in Medina where followers of various faiths lived in peace. However, secularists here prefer to call it by its more neutral term of Masyarakat Warga.
Democratic Indonesia's future is being determined by our current actions, especially by our protection of minority groups, including Ahmadiyah.
The absence of state protection for such powerless groups would strengthen opinions that our democratic status is merely a facade.
Those who dream of a civilized society should warn SBY over possible violations of freedom of religion as defined by the State Constitution if he prohibits the Islamic sect.
It is just wishful thinking to hope he will work fast to stop the violence.
As with any decision, be it whether to increase fuel prices or solve soaring food prices, the President would think and think it over until innocent people do not just fall asleep from boredom but actually get killed and their properties burned.
Indonesia would never join developed countries in establishing order, but rather would remain members of the group of disorder, along with other rough states and messy countries.
