W

est Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan says he wants the police to investigate the attack of a house owned by an 80-year-old Ahmadiyah follower in Tasikmalaya.

“Violence, on behalf of anything, is illegal in West Java. Vandalism is a crime, so it’s a police matter,” Heryawan said in Bandung on Wednesday.

Heryawan, however, denied that his recently issued regulation banning Amadiyah in the province triggered a violent attack of the Islamic sect’s followers in Tasikmalaya.

“The regulation was able to prevent a full-blown conflict, such as occurred in Kuningan. If it had taken place, it would have been 10 times bigger than the riot in Cikeusik,” he said.

Tasikmalaya Ahmadiyah Congregation head Encang Zarkasih said the house owned by Ahmadiyah follower Uha, and occupied by the 80-year-old and his six children and grandchildren, took place around 10:30 p.m. on March 29.

“Around 50 people were involved in the vandalism,” he said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

According to Encang, all six immediately fled after the mob shattered the house’s windowpanes and threw a motorcycle into a nearby pond.

The mob was comprised of local residents and outsiders, Encang said.

“It was done only because he is an Ahmadi. The place has never been used for any religious activity,”
Encang said.

While no one was injured in the incident, Uha’s family had been evacuated to avoid further incidents.

Tasikmalaya City Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. M. Hendra Suhartiyono said investigators were currently collecting statements from seven eyewitnesses.

“We are still building the case and have yet to name a suspect,” he said.

Separately, hundreds of Ahmadis in a refugee camp in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) expressed indifference to the orders recently issued by several provincial governors disbanding Ahmadiyah.

“[The orders] have no influence on us. Actually, we no longer care about it. The most important thing is for the government to resolve the refugee issue. We want freedom like other Indonesian citizens, to live normally again and not in this shelter,” Syahidin, coordinator of the Ahmadiyah community at the Wisma Transito refugee shelter in Mataram, told the Post on
Wednesday.

Wisma Transito has been the home of 137 Ahmadis, including 48 children below 12 years of age, since their eviction from their homes in Lingsar, West Lombok, in February 2006.

The government stopped assisting the refugees in 2008. The West Lombok and NTB administrations have rejected the Ahmadis’ requests to renew their long-expired identity cards.

“We face difficulties in getting healthcare and education for our children. I appeal to the government to provide us with ID cards and to recognize us as Indonesian citizens,” said Syahidin.

Many of refugees currently made their livelihoods as construction workers, motorcycle taxi drivers or small vendors.

NTB Religious Affairs Office head Lalu Suhaimi Ismi previously said the office would continue to provide religious counseling to the Ahmadis.

“We continue to encourage them to return to mainstream Islamic teachings,” said Suhaimi.

Some of the refugees said offers of counseling made through the media would not be effective without direct interaction.