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AKARTA: Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali has come under fire for planning to disband the Ahmadiyah sect, which he singles out as “misguided”.

“Minister Suryadharma Ali has to quit the Cabinet,” said Fadjroel Rahman, an activist of Coalition of Anti-corruption Societies (Kompak).

Fadjroel called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to replace Suryadharma if he reshuffles his Cabinet as some have suggested.

The minister, Fadjroel said, has no authority to meddle in the citizens’ faith. Instead, he continued, the government should protect citizens’ rights to embrace the religion of their choice.

Suryadharma is among mainstream Muslims who see Ahmadiyah as a misguided sect that must be banned. Critics say banning Ahmadiyah would amount to trampling on human rights.

Yenny Wahid, the politician daughter of the late president Abdurrahman Wahid, also denounced the minister’s statement made on Sept. 7.

“Banning Ahmadiyah would be very wrong,” she said at a rally organized in Jakarta by the Forum for Religious Freedom. She added his statement had been exploited by extremists to attack Ahmadis.

She said nobody had the right to impose one’s belief on others the way the hard-liners do on followers of Ahmadiyah. — JP