W

ith the East Java gubernatorial election approaching, the nation'€™s Shia community has expressed concern that persecution against Shiites in East Java will escalate.

Leaders of the Shia community said that politicians, including Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali, would likely use the Shia-Sunni conflict to gain votes.

Suryadharma is chairman of the United Development Party (PPP).

He has been accused of condoning the alleged forced conversion of 34 displaced Shia followers in Sidoarjo, who had been promised a safe return to their homes in Sampang, Madura.

'€œWe'€™re afraid that the minister and his party have a political agenda [related to the Sunni-Shia conflict] because he repeatedly quoted statements from Sunni clerics calling for conversion to justify his stance on the matter,'€ Ahmad Hidayat, the secretary-general of Shia organization Indonesian Ahlul Bait (ABI), told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

'€œThe conflict in Sampang is simply a violation of religious freedom. It'€™s a simple matter that has become complicated as government officials and several intolerant clerics from the majority Sunni group are taking advantage.'€

Religious Affairs Ministry representative Zubaidi has refuted the accusation of Suryadharma'€™s involvement in any attempts to convert the Shiites to the '€œtrue teaching of Islam'€, saying that such an accusation was baseless and out of context.

'€œThe minister as well as this ministry doesn'€™t have the authority to make judgments over certain [religious] teachings. Our primary concern is only how to make sure that all religious groups peacefully co-exist in this country,'€ Zubaidi said.

However, Shia cleric Iklil Al Milal, who is among the 235 Shiites evicted from Sampang, testified on Monday that he was invited to meet Suryadharma at the executive lounge of Juanda International Airport in Surabaya.

The minister allegedly told him that the Shiites could return to Sampang when they were '€œalready enlightened'€.

'€œI think the minister only used different words to say that we are deviant, thus we need to be enlightened before we go back home,'€ said Iklil, who is a brother to the imprisoned Shia cleric Tajul Muluk.

Human rights activists have called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to appoint an independent team comprising tolerant and humanitarian figures, as well as interfaith leaders, in order to achieve an impartial and peaceful solution to reconcile the Sampang Shiites with their Sunni neighbors.

The executive director of the Universalia Legal Aid Institute (YLBH Universalia) and an attorney for the Sampang Shia community, Hertasning Ichlas, said: '€œThe reconciliation process has turned political because the PPP has a great number of supporters in the area'€.

East Java will hold a gubernatorial election on August 28.