Letter: Banning Ahmadiyah

In a genuine secular democracy, a government should not be involved in banning — or endorsing — any religious faith. The fact that two religious faiths have disagreements should not be a basis for the government to take sides.

Governments should facilitate religious tolerance in democracies, not take sides as Indonesia’s has done in the case of Ahmadiyah. The government has succumbed to doing what mainstream Islam demands. The government does not have the wisdom or religious mandate to determine who is right in terms of beliefs; they are, after all, just two sets of beliefs, and it is not for man to decide who is right and who is not right.

RI should be setting an example in religious tolerance — the reputation it had in the past — even if that means impressing upon mainstream Islam that this is a democracy that must promote religious tolerance, not authoritarian theocratic rule, My advice to so-called mainstream Islam is grow up and simply ignore Ahmadiyah.

It is no longer a question of who is right — it is a matter of each having their constitutional rights. The RI government must avoid more muddle-headed thinking on Ahmadiyah; this group has a right under the Constitution to exist and to believe what they like and not be dictated to, either by mainstream Islam or by the government.

It is time to see better leadership from the government on this issue and for them to stop being bullied by the more radical and vocal of Islam. Governments must have principles, even if that means that not everyone supports you politically.

The Government so far has played right into the hands of the Muslim extremists by agreeing to place sanctions on Ahmadiyah; that is interpreted as the right to take over implementation of the law.

If the Government is prepared to ban Ahmadiyah there is then nothing in principle to stop them from banning any or all other minority religions and sects.
 
Nairdah
Sydney