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| Suryadharma Ali - Photo: TribunNews.com/Herudin) |
Source/Credit:The Jakarta Post
By Bagus BT Saragih | April 20, 2012
Ahmadiyah followers 'must obey' law, says Religious Affairs minister after Ahmadiyya properties were vandalized by Islamist extremist
Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali is telling Ahmadiyah followers to obey the law despite the fact that it was them and their properties that were under attack on Friday morning.
“There might have been something wrong in the region. We must to promote discussion to settle this kind of issues. But the Ahmadis must also obey the law,” he said on Friday at the State Palace.
Suryadharma was referring to the 2008 joint ministerial decree banning members of the Ahmadiyah Indonesia Congregation (JAI) from propagating their religious beliefs.
A group of vigilantes attacked an Ahmadiyah mosque called Baitul Rahim in Babakan Sindang village, Tasikmalaya, West Java.
The attackers reportedly threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the mosque, leaving shattered glasses and destroyed praying facilities.
The attack came after another group of people sealed the mosque.
They claimed Ahmadiyah followers were not allowed to conduct prayers in the village, but Ahmadis remained doing so.
Suryadharma said he had not received a complete report on the incident.
When asked why attacks against minorities kept happening in the country, Suryadharma said, “legal offenders must be charged and the Ahmadis must leave defiant belief.”
Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto said the West Java Police were investigating the incident.
Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi also said he had not received comprehensive report on the Singaparna incident, but suggested the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) might have been involved in the attack, following reports saying the attackers wore attributes depicting symbols of the hardline group.
Gamawan said the government had warned the FPI twice for the latter’s violent acts.
“Another big-scale violence made by the FPI would mean that the organization is eligible to be frozen,” he said.
When asked for comments, FPI spokesman Munarman said, “Why do you always accuse us? Why didn’t you ask for my comments on when FPI members, for example, were intimidated in Palangkaraya recently?”
Munarman was referring to an incident at the Tjilik Riwut Airport in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, in February, when FPI members who just arrived were blocked by locals who did not want the hardline group to come to and settle in their city. (mtq/ued)
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He tells us to obey the law, I wonder what he'll tell God on the Day of Judgement when asked why he didn't follow His law and allowed the murder of innocent people, destruction of their properties, and so on?
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