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score of Ahmadis in Bekasi, West Java, camped inside their sealed Al-Misbah Mosque on Saturday, refusing to leave until the municipal administration lifted the ban on using the house of worship for prayer.

“We are all fine here and will fight for our rights. We do not want to leave our mosque because we don’t want it to be taken from us. We will stay here until the administration opens the seal,” said Rahmat Rahmadijaya, one of the 20 congregation members who sealed themselves in the mosque, through a creak on the back fence.

“I feel a bit stressed inside here, not because I am afraid but because we Ahmadis cannot exercise our beliefs as citizens.”

The number decreased from 50 on Friday after the administration erected a 2-meter high corrugated sheet fence surrounding the mosque on Thursday to prevent the congregation members from performing Friday prayer.

The situation was relatively normal but there were still around 15 officers guarding the mosque.

The congregation members outside of the mosque have been supplying food and water through the back fence to their fellow believers who remain inside the mosque.

“Today I am making tofu and egg curry, and fried salty fish for them. As soon I finish cooking I will deliver the food to them through the back fence,” said Radiah Andang, who has been cooking for the congregation members since Thursday.

However, some members said the police had prohibited them from delivering food as requested by a hard-liner group in the area.

Deden Sudjana, the congregation’s security coordinator, said the Pondok Gede Police had offered the Ahmadis a guarantee letter that would keep the mosque and its assets safe in exchange for them leaving the mosque. The guarantee letter was said to have been provided by the public order agency.

“We have turned down the offer,” he said.

The local administration justified sealing the mosque under the terms of a West Java gubernatorial decree and the 2008 joint ministerial decree banning members of the Ahmadiyah Indonesia Congregation (JAI) from propagating their religious beliefs.

Al Misbah Mosque internal law affairs commission head Andang Budhi Satria said the municipal administration’s act of shutting down the Bekasi Ahmadiyah mosque on Thursday was lawless.

“We never spread our teachings and we’ve always maintained harmony with other believers. We did not violate the decree. We just prayed in our mosque like other Muslims do every day. Why did the administration seal it?” he told The Jakarta Post.

In response to the increasing number of attacks on religious minorities taking place in Indonesia, around 300 hundreds priests along with 1,000 Christian congregations and several inter-faith pundits are expected to take to the streets on Monday to call on religious freedom in front of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) building in Senayan, Central Jakarta.

“This movement is for all believers who have suffered discrimination or even attacks in Indonesia. We will talk to MPR representatives about our aspirations. We will urge the government to listen to people whose religious rights have been trampled on by intolerant groups in Indonesia,” said Rev. Advent Leonard Nababan, one of the event organizers. (hrl)