Source/Credit: Financial Times
ByAnthony Deutsch in Cisalada | February 18 2011
Dozens of Indonesian soldiers patrol the village with M-16 assault rifles, walking along dirt trails past firebombed buildings and houses. A loudspeaker announces afternoon prayers and residents quietly file out of homes with boarded up windows, wearing wraparound sarongs and Muslim caps.
The Ahmadi, a sect considered heretical by a Muslim majority outnumbering them 1,000-to-1 in Indonesia, once lived here peacefully. But they have been put under military protection amid a wave of deadly violence that is straining religious tolerance in the democracy of nearly 240m people which houses the world’s largest Muslim population.
Security in Cisalada, a village just south of the capital, Jakarta, was heightened after hundreds of Muslim extremists attacked an Ahmadi house in Cikeusik, just 50km away, and bludgeoned to death three worshippers. Some survivors were left in critical condition after suffering severe beatings and are now under police guard in hospital.
“He was found naked in the mud with all his belongings stolen. His wallet and mobile phone were gone”, said Cucu Sutiati, whose 34-year-old son, Chandra, was killed. “I cannot describe the pain I am feeling. I want to know who killed my son. I want justice”, she said, struggling to contain her grief.
Images of the bloodied bodies being stoned by a mob shouting “Allah Akbar!”, or “God is great!”, quickly spread on the internet, where they were seen by his family.
Read more at Financial Times: [Religious tensions grow in Indonesia]
The vast majority of Indonesia’s 200m Muslims are moderate and do not back radical Islam. But a militant fringe has grown more vocal in recent years. The number of attacks against religious minorities, such as Christians and the Ahmadi sect, has surged in the last year, said Setara, Indonesia’s Institute for Peace and Democracy.
The latest gruesome images harked back to a decade ago when communal clashes in the Maluku islands left thousands of Christians and Muslims dead.
The public widely condemned the acts. But rights groups warn of a sharp rise in violence against Ahmadis and Christians that could threaten political and economic stability in the emerging democracy, an increasingly popular destination for foreign investors.
Several people have been detained and questioned about the murders, but the vast majority of a mob estimated to have numbered 1,500 walked away.
This has reinforced the argument of those who accuse the authorities of failing to uphold the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. Police often turn a blind eye, claim rights groups, to a small radical fringe that is blamed for hundreds of arson attacks against holy sites, physical assaults and other hate crimes.
Weak law enforcement is partly to blame for the spiral of violence, said Walter Lohman, director of Asia studies at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank.
“But the much bigger problem with these incidents is the cycle of intolerance that encompasses them, a cycle much more familiar in places like Egypt and Pakistan, but which if not checked by firm presidential leadership in Indonesia, threatens the freedom and fabric, and even territorial integrity of the nation”, Mr. Lohman wrote.
The Ahmadis are banned in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries because they believe their Indian founder, Mizra Ghulam Ahmad – not Muhammad – was the final prophet, a claim also at the heart of their troubles in Cisalada.
A few hundred metres from Ms Sutiati’s two-room home, a signpost marks the line of segregation between around 560 Ahmadi and the wider Muslim community. “Forbidden for Ahmadi to use this road”, it says before being hastily removed. Military trucks parked outside the Ahmadi school are another stark sign of the division.
“We don’t have a problem with people practising their own religions, just do not disgrace Islam”, said Tjetje Mamum, the Imam at a mosque on the other side of town. “The problem started when they began breaking the government regulation. The solution is to disband the Ahmadi.”
A joint ministerial decree issued in June 2008 ordered the Ahmadi to stop activities “deviant from the principles of Islam”. The vaguely-worded document fell short of the outright ban sought by some Muslim leaders, but some see it as a justification for targeting Ahmadis, including the deaths in Cikeusik, west Java.
“If Ahmadi members obey the government regulation such incidents [as those in Cikeusik] wouldn’t happen,” said Mr. Mamum, wagging a finger and raising his voice. “Ahmadis are the anarchists of the world. They are disgracing Islam, insulting Muslims.”
In October, around 1,000 members of Mr Mamum’s congregation were involved in attacks on the local Ahmadi school – which was set on fire – several houses and a mosque. Men in masks smashed windows and destroyed property with bamboo poles, witnesses said.
Both sides said they want to avoid further confrontation but the prospects do not look hopeful.
“We wanted to expand the mosque and the other community came to stop us”, said Mubarik Ahmad, the head of the Ahmadi community. “If the police and army don’t protect our property, we’ll fight back.”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
Read original post here: Religious tensions grow in Indonesia
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments. Any comments irrelevant to the post's subject matter, containing abuses, and/or vulgar language will not be approved.