Letter to the editor: Rabithah Alawiyah responds

We would like to clarify and deny several points of the report on page 10 of The Jakarta Post in its Monday, June 18 edition, which is written by Hasyim Widhiarto and Fikri Muhammadi, related to Rabithah Alawiyah.

First, the story says Muhammad Ghazi Alaidrus, the deputy secretary, “declined the requests for an interview…”, whilst I, Muhammad Ghazi Alaidrus, only communicated with Hasyim just once and had never stated my refusal but forwarded his request to my direct superior, the Rabithah Alawiyah secretary-general, and then the chairman, before we could arrange an appointment with Hasyim.

At that time, the communication did not continue and there was no rejection either from me as the Rabithah Alawiyah deputy secretary-general or Rabithah Alawiyah as an organization.

Second, we object to the report, which deems Rabithah Alawiyah as a clandestine or secretive organization, which is a big mistake and shows the writer’s lack of knowledge about the history of the organization, which was set up in 1928 and has contributed a lot to the national awakening and Indonesia’s independence struggle along with Jamiat Kheir, Daarul Aitam and other social organizations.

We cannot accept a statement saying that Rabithah Alawiyah is an organization “outside of the public view”, while in fact the Home Affairs Ministry registers Rabithah Alawiyah as an Islamic organization and we possess our own building to organize our activities and run an open website.

M. Ghazi Alaidrus
Deputy secretary-general
Rabithah Alawiyah

Thank you for your clarification.
— Editor