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transnational movement has entered Indonesia to destroy the Shia sect, which has existed in Aceh since the fourth century, a scholar has said.

Azyumardi Azra of Syarif Hidayatulah State Islamic University (UIN) in Jakarta said that after the success of the 1979 Iran revolution and the emergence of Saudi Arabia as a petro-dollar country, a movement had begun to fund the anti-Shia Wahhabi movement.

“The Wahhabi movement in Indonesia runs independently and enters different groups,” Azyumardi said after giving a keynote speech at an international conference on Shia held in Yogyakarta earlier this week

One of the groups that has been aggressively against Shia, according to him, is the Salafi group, an off-shoot of Jafar Umar Thalib’s Laskar Jihad. “The Salafi group has networks in Saudi Arabia,” Azyumardi said.

He called on the government to be firm with both groups in regards to violence. “The law has to be reinforced. There is no impunity for groups committing violence,” Azyumardi said.

On the recent conflicts between Shia and Sunni in Sampang, Madura, Azyumardi said the case did not involve religious matters. The case was triggered by political and economic interests, and it grew bigger and uncontrolled because the security authorities had failed to act firmly against the group that had committed violence.

Shia and Sunni Muslims, according to Azyumardi, actually share many common beliefs.

The Iran Ambassador to Indonesia, Mahmoud Farazandeh, who also attended the conference, said that Shia and Sunni in Indonesia had culturally united and peacefully co-existed for thousands of years. “They are inseparable,” he said.

Another speaker at the forum, Siti Maryam of Kalijaga UIN in Yogyakarta, said that traces of Shia in Java could be easily found.

Among other examples is the tradition of cooking porridge during the month of Sura, according to the Javanese calendar and the symbol of the Cirebon Kingdom that uses the image of the sword of Sayyidina Ali (bin Abi Thalib).

“In Java, Sunni and Shia acculturation occurs mostly in areas far from the reach of the ‘control’ of the religious authority such as in the domain of art and culture,” Siti said.

Observations conducted by Agus Sunyoto of Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java, strengthened Siti’s view. Agus said the kenduri (thanksgiving) tradition had come from Iran. The tradition of commemorating the 40th day of the death of a loved one was influenced by Shia and not by Hinduism, as widely believed.

Other examples include the tradition among Javanese people to not hold wedding parties during the month of Sura, which was also the same month of the death of Sayyidina Ali. Javanese believe that having parties during Sura would bring them bad luck.

“Islam in Indonesia cannot be seen as black and white, between Shia or Sunni, as both have influenced each other,” said Agus who claimed to have conducted extensive research on Shia.

Separately, Siti Samsiatun of the Indonesia Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS), which organized the conference expressed hope that the forum would inspire mutual understanding between Shia and Sunni Muslims in Southeast Asia. Shia, which is also present in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, has been banned in Malaysia.

“There has been misunderstandings due to the lack of communication. This conference will hopefully help bring peace among the people,” Siti said.