Indonesia: Ahmadis in Kuningan stay calm despite Tasik attack

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“With this level of security we can remain calm and not get provoked by acts of violence by particular parties, including the recent acts in Tasikmalaya.”

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Jakarta Post
By Nana Rukmana | May 13 2013

The Ahmadiyah community in Manislor village, Jalaksana district, Kuningan regency, West Java, are going about their business as usual and remaining calm despite the recent attack at an Ahmadiyah hamlet in Tasikmalaya, also in West Java.

The Ahamdiyah settlement in Manislor is one of the biggest Ahmadiyah complexes in Indonesia. Manislor is inhabited by 4,500 people and 3,000 of them are Ahmadis.

On May 5, hundreds attacked an Ahmadiyah community in Wanasigra hamlet in Tenjowaringin, Tasikmalaya, the population of which is 80 percent Ahmadi, after the local branch of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI) had held a meeting on the two previous days.

The attack damaged 29 buildings, including a mosque, a mushola (small mosque) and an elementary school. No fatalities were reported in the incident.

According to a spokesman for the Ahmadiyah community in Tenjowaringin, police officers were on the scene, but they did nothing to stop the attack and no one had been evacuated after the incident.

West Java Police has arrested two suspects for the attack and they could face five years in prison for violating articles 170 and 406

An Ahmadiyah elder in Manislor, Kulman Tisnaprawira, expressed his concern over the attack against Ahmadis in Tasikmalaya, urging authorities to react quickly to restore security following the attack.

 “Thank God, the Ahmadis in Manislor are not affected by the attack in Tasikmalaya, as everyone is carrying out their daily and religious activities as usual,” Kulman said.

According to Kulman, the peaceful situation in Manislor is attributed to the role of security personnel who are conducting intensive security around the clock.

“Security personnel always coordinate well with the community. They play a crucial role in maintaining the peace here. We are very grateful to them,” he went on.

Ahmadiyah elders in Manislor, Kulman added, also coordinate with residents in responding to various cases related with the presence of Ahmadiyah, or inter-religious tolerance.

“With this level of security we can remain calm and not get provoked by acts of violence by particular parties, including the recent acts in Tasikmalaya,” he said.

Violence directed at Ahmadiyah followers has been more frequent since the issuance of a joint ministerial decree in 2008 banning followers of the sect from publicly performing their faith.

Ahmadis across West Java suffered further after the West Java administration issued a provincial regulation banning Ahmadiyah activities across the province in 2011.

Separately, the youth wing of the country’s largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama, Gerakan Pemuda (GP) Ansor, deems the government is slow in responding to violence in the name of religion, or other social conflicts, including the attack and vandalism on houses of worship and homes of Ahmadiyah followers in Tasikmalaya, West Java.

“The attack on Ahmadis cannot be justified in the name of anything, including religion,” said GP Ansor central executive board’s Organizational and Members Affairs head H.M. Nuruzzaman over the weekend.

He said the attack and vandalism on the mosque and homes was testament that the government had failed to respond quickly to the issue in resolving social conflicts, or violence in the name of religion.

“The attack against Ahmadis in Tasikmalaya and other religious violence in Indonesia is proof the government has lost its ideological vision and failed to execute its constitutional mandate in protecting the rights of citizens. This has given room for practices of human rights violations to continue,” added Nuruzzaman.

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