Ahmadiyah fights back -- in civilized way

Ahmadiyah fights back -- in civilized way

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With their mosques and homes destroyed and their members
terrorized, the Jamaah Ahmadiyah Congregation is fighting back,
by peacefully filing a lawsuit against the Bogor administration
after it banned the Islamic sect from any activity in the
regency.

The legal maneuver is just one of many measures being prepared
by the embattled sect to stay alive amid violent attacks from
conservative Muslim groups in recent months.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post on Thursday, Ahmadiyah lawyers
said the lawsuit was being completed and would be filed with the
state administrative court on Oct. 7. The congregation is
challenging Bogor's ban as they believe it would be proven
legally weak, said Erna Ratnaningsih, the deputy director of the
Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH).

The decree, issued jointly by the Bogor city government,
police, prosecutor's office and the Bogor Council of Ulema in
July, clearly ran counter to the nation's Constitution, which
protects freedom of religion, argued Erna.

The decree was also against a law on regional government,
which stipulates that religious affairs are managed by the
central government and not regional governments. "We will demand
that the Bogor decree be declared invalid and be revoked," said
Erna.

The decree was issued shortly after a group of nearly 10,000
Muslim extremists attacked an Ahmadiyah campus in Parung outside
of Bogor city in July. None of the Ahmadiyah members were injured
during the attack, but Ahmadiyah members were stunned again as
the Bogor administration promptly issued a decree that banned
them from practicing their faith in the regency. The decree was
issued, according to Bogor officials, in order to maintain social
harmony. "The decree was the entry point for more pressure
directed at the Jamaah Ahmadiyah Congregation," said Wirawan, the
director of Bandung LBH.

As police officers refused to arrest the attackers, it
encouraged extremist Muslims from other areas across West Java to
exert more pressure against Ahmadiyah members. After the July
attack, conservative groups in Cianjur attacked Ahmadiyah again,
destroying mosques and homes earlier this week. The violence was
soon followed by the joint regulation issued by the Cianjur
regency administration that banned Ahmadiyah members from holding
activities in the regency.

Aware that their existence was under threat of outspoken
Muslim conservatives that had been making inroads in the country
in recent years, the congregation is preparing three sets of
actions to assure its survival. The first is the aforementioned
legal measure. The second is a plan to lobby various leaders in
order to help defend freedom of religion for Ahmadiyah members,
said Erna. "We are going to have meetings with the president and
the House of Representatives," said Erna. The third measure was
to form a coalition with other minority religious groups such as
the Indonesian Bishop Conference (KWI) and the Liberal Islamic
Network (JIL) in order to help promote religious freedom in the
country, said Erna.

Ahmadiyah was established in Pakistan in the 19th century by
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. The organization has been in Indonesian since
1926 and formally recognized in 1953. It is estimated that there
are 200,000 followers of Ahmadiyah in Indonesia.

The controversy hinges on the sect's belief that the last
prophet was not Muhammad as mainstream Muslims believe, but Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad, the organization's founder.

The organization has also been criticized for its exclusivity.
Ahmadiyah members hold Friday prayers in their own mosques and do
not participate in Friday prayers in any other mosques.