This is a response to an article titled "FPI attacks damage RI Muslim image: Muhammadiyah chairman," (The Jakarta Post, June 20, p. 2). Any signs of political tiptoeing and leadership from the moderate Muslim elitists is not only long overdue, but also hypocritical.
They now want to douse the flames they themselves started as members of the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) and get political credit for it by denouncing the FPI violence.
With the backing of the MUI, the government issued the decree prohibiting the Ahmadi movement from performing its activity, although it did not freeze or disband it, resulting in uncertainty and the entry of the FPI.
The MUI ordered the sect shut down for deviating from true Islamic teachings. The MUI first and foremost should honor the tolerance this nation was founded on.
Second, it has a duty to honor the tolerance that Islam teaches. Islam is great enough to stand on its own. There is no threat of a massive rush of converts to Ahmadi.
To view the Ahmadi sect as a threat to the spirit of Islam indirectly weakens Islam itself.
By setting this precedent of banning minority beliefs, the MUI has done a disservice to this country and to the moderate Muslims they represent. Instead of being used as a political vehicle by nonpolitical Muslim groups, the MUI should be disbanded once and for all.
MARC JANICHEN
Jakarta
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