Source/Credit: The Jakarta Globe
ByAmir Tejo, Heru Andriyanto & Farouk Arnaz | March 03, 2011
Followers of Ahmadiyah have already begun withdrawing from public activities in East Java after the governor issued a decree banning the sect’s activities throughout the province.
In Surabaya, the provincial capital, Ahmadiyah members have taken down the signpost to their mosque, An-Nur, while a group of police were seen patrolling in front of the building and in the immediate area.
“Starting from February 28, there will be no more statements from Ahmadiyah [in East Java],” said Samsul, a mosque official.
“The head of the police precinct said we should not talk much to the media.”
The leader of the mosque, Sibte Ahmad Hasan, declined to comment on the new regulation when approached by the Jakarta Globe.
Soekarwo, the East Java governor, recently issued a decree banning the sect from spreading its beliefs via any media and forbidding the display of its name in public, including on signposts to mosques.
The move has gained support from the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), which stated that the ban was necessary to stem demonstrations against the sect.
Attorney General Basrief Arief said on Wednesday that he would support any regional governments that imposed bans on Ahmadiyah in their respective regions.
“This is within the authority of regional governments in their efforts to maintain social order in their areas. The regional government has the authority to determine what is considered as causing unrest and disturbing public order,” he told reporters.
Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, another supporter of the governor’s ruling, said the ministry had asked the provincial administration to send a copy of the decree for further evaluation.
“However, as long as the decree is in line with the joint decree then it will not be a problem,” he said referring to the 2008 joint ministerial decree banning Ahmadiyah from proselytizing.
Meanwhile, the dossiers of eight suspects in the deadly attack on an Ahmadiyah community in Cikeusik, Banten, have now been forwarded to the prosecutor’s office and they are expected to face trial soon. “There were 108 witnesses who testified to their involvement,” National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said.
With this step, he said, just four dossiers remained with the police and these would be sent to prosecutors in the near future.
The Feb. 6 attack saw some 1,500 people attack 25 Ahmadiyah members who had refused to leave the house of a local sect leader in a village in the Cikeusik subdistrict of Pandeglang. Three sect members were killed.
Read original post here: Muzzled Ahmadiyah Keeping a Low Profile in E. Java
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.