Various groups in South Sumatra have expressed their support for the provincial administration's controversial ban on Ahmadiyah activities.
Acting Governor Mahyudin banned the allegedly heretical sect Monday, saying Ahmadiyah is incompatible with Islamic teaching.
Following the ban, Mahyudin was summoned by Home Minister Mardiyanto on behalf of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, with the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) demanding the ban be revoked.
Some community leaders have called on the provincial administration to carry on with the ban despite the summons, detecting what they see as an ambiguity in the central government's stance toward the sect.
"We support the governor's decision, which is firmer than the central government's indecisive stance," said Sodikun, chairman of the South Sumatra chapter of the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI).
Clerics will accompany Mahyudin in his meeting with the president, Sodikun added while speaking at a press conference at the MUI's provincial office on Saturday.
Islamic organizations in South Sumatra are expected to ask the president not to annul the governor's decree, to avoid insulting residents of the province.
In addition, the South Sumatra MUI will most likely request a presidential decree dissolving the Ahmadiyah sect.
The Ummat Dignity Advocacy Team's Bahrul Ilmi Yakub disagreed with a statement made by the YLBHI's Adnan Buyung Nasution that the South Sumatra administration lacks the authority to ban Ahmadiyah, saying Adnan was wrong.
"If Adnan disagrees with the decree, he should file a judicial review against it, as it is a follow-up to the joint ministerial decree issued on Ahmadiyah," Ilmi said.
Meanwhile, president of the Sriwijaya University Student Body Aang Kunaifi said Ahmadiyah's defilement of Islamic teachings was a much more important issue than the potential legal basis of the gubernatorial decree.
"Acknowledging another prophet and another holy book is enough to ban Ahmadiyah," he said.
"It's true we have to respect their human rights, but we must also preserve Islam's purity."
Ahmadiyah's senior ulema Sufni Zafar Ahmad said the sect has yet to receive a copy of the gubernatorial decree.
"We Ahmadis in South Sumatra are also Muslims who abide by all the tenets of Islam," he added.
"Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was the founder of the Ahmadiyah sect and not a prophet. We believe in Allah, Prophet Muhammad, the Koran and Hadith."
Sufni also said the Tazkirah was not, in fact, a holy book -- as has been alleged -- but a work written by Mirza based on ilham or divine inspiration.
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