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request by the Yogyakarta branch of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to the police to monitor, freeze or disband institutions or organizations whose members are adherents of Shia Islam has received criticism from a number of well-known individuals.

Muslim intellectual Dawam Rahardjo said the council may consider Shia to be deviant, but he
personally did not because Shiites had their own clear thoughts regarding Islam.

'€œThe MUI is intolerant and authoritarian. It is being dictated by Saudi Arabia,'€ said Dawam, who is also rector of the Proklamasi 45 University in Yogyakarta.

'€œThis is an international political game. I have the proof because a friend of mine had specifically conducted research into this,'€ he said.

The same criticism was expressed by the chairman of the Yogyakarta Interfaith Brotherhood Forum (FPUB), Abdul Muhaimin, who said the council'€™s policy had no legal basis.

'€œIt has no legal basis to ask the security apparatus to disband or freeze Shia,'€ he said.

MUI Yogyakarta'€™s request to the police was mentioned in its letter addressed to the Islamic Jihad Front (FJI) in answer to a demand previously proposed by the latter to issue an edict declaring Shia to be a deviant belief.

'€œOur consideration is security. If [Shia] causes restlessness, the organization should be disbanded or its activities frozen,'€ the council'€™s secretary, Kamaludiningrat, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

It said its decision was based on a book published by the central MUI.

In the book, entitled Panduan Majelis Ulama Indonesia tentang Mengenal dan Mewaspadai Penyimpangan Syiah di Indonesia (Recognizing and being Alert to Shia Deviation in Indonesia), the MUI mentions five deviant practices performed by Shiites, one of which, according to Kamaludiningrat, was that it did not believe in the Koran.

The book was earlier discussed at Gadjah Mada University'€™s mosque during an event that was attended by Sleman Regent Sri Purnomo. During the discussion, Purnomo reportedly suggested kicking the Shia community out of Yogyakarta.

Responding to the MUI'€™s request, Yogyakarta Police chief Brig. Gen. Haka Astana M. Widya said he had yet to read the letter. '€œI am attending a leaders'€™ meeting in Jakarta,'€ Haka explained via text message.

Separately, Edy Syarif, spokesperson of the Shia-based Rausyan Fikr Institute, said the institute'€™s activities had been halted since Dec. 26 last year.

'€œWe live in harmony with the community, just as we did when we were established in 1995,'€ Edy said.

The call of the disbandment of Shia organizations in Yogyakarta is the latest in a series of cases of religious intolerance. In Sampang, Madura Island, East Java, two Shiites were killed in a communal
conflict less than two years ago.

Dozens of Shiites were then evacuated to Sidoarjo.

Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali once said that the Shia followers could return to their home village, but only if they converted to Sunni Islam.