A mob of hard-liners stormed Sukamaju village on Sunday, breaking through police barricades to damage homes belonging to Ahmadiyah members before a planned commemoration of Isra Mi’raj or the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.
Source/Credit: The Jakarta Globe
By Farouk Arnaz | May 6, 2013
The National Police have set up a special team to investigate Sunday’s attack on the Ahmadiyah community in Tasikmalaya, West Java, by Islamic hard-liners.
A mob of hard-liners stormed Sukamaju village on Sunday, breaking through police barricades to damage homes belonging to Ahmadiyah members before a planned commemoration of Isra Mi’raj or the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.
The mob, which totaled between 200 and 400, did not wear identifying clothing, but were likely members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) or an affiliated group, police said. Investigators had not named any suspects in the attack on Monday.
“We really regret this incident and we condemn the violence,” National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said. “The National Police chief has ordered the West Java Police chief to set up a special team to investigate the case. We have questioned four witnesses.”
Many of the hard-liners were from outside Tasikmalaya, local police chief Sr. Comr. Wijonarko told the Indonesian news portal portalkbr.com. Wijonarko said they warned the Ahmadiyah that any plans to celebrate Isra Mi’raj would likely lead to attacks from hard-line Islamists.
Sixty police officers set up an unsuccessful barricade on Sunday. The barricade was overtaken by the hard-liners.
Asep Taufik Ahmad, a member of the Sukamaju village said police warned that a mass organization threatened they would attack the village if the Ahmadi proceeded with their plan to hold the religious activity.
He declined to name which hard-line group was behind the attack.
The National Police urged the public to settle their differences without violence.
“We hope this will never happen again,” Boy said. “In the future, religious leaders should help enlighten their followers that differences between religions should not be solved with violence.”
The beleaguered Ahmadiyah community have long faced discrimination in Indonesia, where the sect’s branch of Islam has been named “deviant” by a prominent Islamic organization. Thirty members were sealed in the Al-Misbah mosque last month when the Bekasi government attempted to shutter the building.
Religious intolerance is on the rise in Indonesia, where minorities find themselves targeted by members of an increasingly vocal hard-line fringe. In few places is intolerance more routine than West Java. In recent months, Christians and Ahmadiyah have found their houses of worship targeted by the government amid pressure from hard-line groups.
Read original post here: Indonesia: National Police to Set Up Task Force to Investigate Tasikmalaya Ahmadiyah Attack
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