Source/Credit: DW - World | (AFP, Reuters)
By Manasi Gopalakrishnan | August 2, 2011
Most Muslims in Indonesia have peacefully begun fasting for the month of Ramadan, but followers of the minority Ahmadiyah Islamic sect are preparing themselves to face hatred and violence.
A spokesman for the minority group, Firdaus Mubarik says, "The extremists say this is a holy month, everything must be pure and sacred. So we, the Ahmadiyah followers, must be cleared out. "For us, the fasting month does not mean there will be peace for us to perform our religious obligations. On the contrary, there are more opportunities for Muslim extremists to mobilise and incite people to attack us," he adds. According to Mubarik, last year's holy month saw Ahmadiyah homes and a mosque destroyed by angry mobs.
The unwanted minority
Days before this year's Ramadan began on Monday, the authorities ordered the Ahmadiyah community in Samarinda city on Borneo island to close their mosque following complaints from members of the mainstream Sunni Muslim faith.
Hundreds of hardliners from the Islamic Defenders Front, one of the vigilante groups responsible for the violence, rallied on Saturday at the presidential palace in Jakarta demanding the Ahmadiyah be outlawed altogether.
The latest outrage, according to local and international human rights groups, was the lenient punishment given to the ringleaders of the mob attack on Ahmadiyah followers in Cikeusik village, western Java, earlier this year.
In February, around 1,500 enraged extremists descended on a house occupied by a handful of Ahmadiyah sect members, brushed aside the police and proceeded to stone, beat and hack their victims to death before destroying their property.
Dani bin Misra, a 17-year-old who was caught on film repeatedly smashing a victim's skull with a stone, was sentenced to three months in jail for assault causing death, incitement and destruction of property. The suspected leader of the group, Ujang Mohammad Arif, was also sentenced to six months imprisonment, but the court did not charge him with murder or manslaughter.
Blame the victims
The unprovoked attack was filmed by an Ahmadiyah member who is now under police protection. Yet prosecutors claimed the sect provoked the violence by refusing to give their property to the mob. The state did not charge any of the perpetrators with murder. Instead it produced what Human Rights Watch described as an "almost laughable" list of minor infringements.
"We're in a state of emergency regarding freedom of religion," says Hendardi, activist at the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace. He adds, "Last week's court ruling not only failed to have a deterrent effect for the offenders but will encourage the violators to carry out more attacks against minorities in the coming days."
Warped perceptions
The United States and the European Union have expressed strong misgivings but Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said nothing about the sentences, raising questions over his claims to be committed to pluralism and the rule of law.
The religious affairs ministry has also claimed the sentences were the result of a fair trial, and rejected allegations that the police had failed to properly investigate the crimes. Spokesperson for the ministry, Zubaidi said, "As an executive body, we cannot interfere in the legal system... Whether the sentences are light or harsh, how it's perceived is relative.
The Ahmadiya sect is unorthodox in that it does not believe Mohammed is the last prophet of Islam. It claims 500,000 followers in Indonesia, where it has existed in relative calm since the 1920s.
According to analysts, the root cause of the conflict is a government decree promulgated in 2008, which says Ahmadi followers can be jailed for tarnishing Islam but stops short of banning the movement. Critics say the law is ambiguous enough to spark religious conflict.
Report: Manasi Gopalakrishnan(AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Grahame Lucas
Read original post here: Festive Ramadan turns sinister for Indonesia's Ahmadiyah
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