M

uslims should talk to Ahmadiyah followers about the true nature of Islamic teachings, a minister says.

“Muslim scholars and intellectuals are encouraged to hold dialogs with Ahmadiyah so that the latter may gain insight on true Islamic teachings,” Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said on the sidelines of a event in Medan on Monday for the departure of haj pilgrims.

Suryadharma said disbanding Ahmadiyah “would cause fewer problems than keeping it in existence.”

“I choose…disbanding Ahmadiyah as a better option than letting it exist. For that reason, the joint ministerial decree will not be altered,” the minister said.

The minister’s statement countered recommendations to review the 2008 joint ministerial decree that stated that Ahmadiyah can not propagate its teachings, which some view as the source of the sect’s persecution by hard-line Muslims.

Suryadharma did not rule out more problems if Ahmadiyah was disbanded. He said either disbanding Ahmadiyah or allowing the group to continue would both risk creating problems. “We are left with the option on which is less problematic,” he said.

He said the government’s preferred option would consider the fate of Ahmadiyah’s followers.

“We take that into consideration because it will cause huge impact,” he said, adding that leaving Ahmadiya in existence would potentially create conflicts.

He said the government’s policy toward the sect should not be viewed as discrimination.

“It is not that we are suppressing freedom of religion. [Ahmadiyah] is beyond the realm of religious freedom. It is trampling on other people’s religion,” he said.

He said Ahmadiyah was practicing and spreading false Islamic teachings, which had many countries to ban the sect.

Hard-line Muslim groups have launched a series of recent attacks on Ahmadiyah, which is reported to have 200,000 followers in Indonesia.

A Bogor mosque hosting Ahmadiyah religious events was shut down by police in July. Authorities said local Muslim groups might have made good on threats to close the mosque if the police had not.

Three people were injured and scores of houses damaged when clashes broke out between an angry mob and members of Ahmadiyah in Kuningan regency, West Java, also in July.

The clash erupted after 500 protesters from hard-line Islamic groups pushed their way into the sect’s complex at Manis Lor village, 40 kilometers south of Cirebon city and home to 3,000 Ahmadiyah
followers.

Protesters included members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), the Indonesia Mujahidin Council (MMI) and the Islamic Community Forum (FUI).

The most recent violence against the group took place last week in Bogor, West Java.

Around 20 people threw stones at and set fire to Ahmadiyah houses and places of worship in Ciampea. A mosque, five houses, a car and two motorcycles were burned in the attack.