Ahmadiyah members relent, ask to go home

Panca Nugraha ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Mataram   |  Tue, 06/17/2008 10:05 AM  |  The Archipelago

Members of the Ahmadiyah sect said Monday they would obey a recently issued joint ministerial decree banning their activities, and asked for government helping them return to their home villages.

The announcement was made at a meeting between Ahmadiyah representatives and the head of West Nusa Tenggara's community development agency, Muhammad Nur.

Many of the group's members were evicted from their homes in 2006, and currently live at the Transito evacuation center in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara.

Ahmadiyah spokesman Syaiful Uyun said the group was prepared to abide by the instructions of the decree, in which the government ordered the cessation of all religious activities by the sect.

"For us, deviating slightly from the Koran's teaching constitutes a grave denial," he said.

"We are ready to receive instructions from the government... the implementation of the decree depends entirely on the government either visiting us or ordering us to go to a certain place," he said.

In return, Ahmadis urged the government to give heed to their disadvantaged status as evacuees.

"We have lived at the evacuation center for more than two years. We hope the government intends to help us return to our home villages because our departure was not voluntary -- we were forced to leave by security officers for so-called security reasons," said Sahidin, coordinator of Ahmadis at the Transito evacuation center.

Muhammad Nur said the provincial administration was committed to returning the evacuees to their home villages.

"Our commitment remains, but we still have to coordinate with the regency administrations of West and Central Lombok, where their villages are located," he said.

He added the coordination entailed security issues and the acceptance of local residents of the return of the group's members.

Ibnu Salim, spokesman for the provincial administration, cautioned Ahmadiyah members on speaking to the media, because of fears this would "hurt the feeling of Muslims".

The Transito center houses 157 registered evacuees, all of whom were driven from their homes in Ketapang, West Lombok, in February 2006.

Another 35 were evacuated to Praya hospital after they were ordered out of their homes in Praya district, Central Lombok, in mid-2006.

"We've already expressed our willingness to abide by the decree. Now it's up to the government to send us back to our villages. We want to live peacefully as Indonesian citizens," Sahidin said.

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