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akarta Governor Fauzi Bowo announced plans to follow in the footsteps of a number of regions and issue bans to prevent members of the Ahmadiyah sect from practicing their faith in public.

“If necessary, we can go further by not issuing a gubernatorial decree, but a bylaw. My administration will discuss this with the City Council,” Fauzi said Friday.

Fauzi said he planned to send officials to East and West Java to study their bans. East and West Java and South Sulawesi have issued such bans on the sect.

Calls for the banning of the Ahmadiyah sect and its teachings by hard-line Muslim elements across Indonesia have increased in the past few weeks.

Three members of the sect were brutally murdered and several others seriously injured in a planned mob attack in Cikeusik, Pandeglang, Banten, last month.

Members of the sect have faced similar violence and discrimination in past attacks, including in Gegerung village, West Nusa Tenggara, where in February 2006 12 Ahmadi families were forcibly evicted from their homes by authorities and ordered to live in a refugee-style shelter. Several smaller attacks against the sect have also occurred in other regions, including in Jakarta.

On Thursday, the body of an Ahmadi in Bandung, West Java, was found after his grave had allegedly been dug up shortly after his funeral, Ahmad Sulaeman from the Priangan Barat branch of Jemaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia was quoted as saying Friday by news portal kompas.com.

“We hope [law enforcement] officers take legal action, especially because [this is a violation of] the governor’s regulation detailing sanctions against people conducting acts of violence against Ahmadiyah followers,” Rafiq Ahmad, the head of the Priangan Barat branch of Jemaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia, said.

Under the regulation, Ahmadis are prohibited from openly carrying out their religious activities and local residents are prohibited from carrying out acts of violence against them.

Some, however, claim violence against Ahmadis may have been justified as Ahmadis themselves allegedly violated the regulation by conducting religious services in public. On Thursday, National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi told the House of Representatives the Ahmadis were partly to blame for the murder of three followers in the Banten attack.

On Friday, Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin also said the government had to take a hard line against Ahmadiyah.

“We ask the government not to let this problem drag on, because by ignoring and letting the issue continue, people could take the law into their own hands,” Din said Friday after meeting with Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi in Jakarta, Antara news agency reported.

The state must not stand still while a group or organization asks believers of other faiths to join them in a faith that insults Muslims, he said.

He called on the government to intensify efforts to “give guidance” to Ahmadiyah followers. Islamic mass organizations are ready to help the government guide Ahmadis, he said.

“I personally would like to call on Ahmadiyah followers to come back to Islam, to acknowledge that Muhammad was the last prophet. Islam clearly rejects any prophet after Muhammad,” Din said.