Ahmadiyah followers under more pressure to alter beliefs

Ahmadiyah followers under more pressure to alter beliefs

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

While trauma caused by a recent attack on Ahmadiyah property in
Cianjur regency, West Java, has not yet healed, Ahmadiyah members
faced pressure from another organization on Thursday.

A conservative group, the Discussion Forum for the
Implementation of Sharia has demanded that the Depok municipal
government ban activities held by the Ahmadiyah congregation in
order to maintain social harmony. The group says Ahmadiyah's
teachings are heretical, controversial and sacrilegious and
therefore have to be banned. Ahmadiyah followers are said to
believe that the last prophet was not Muhammad but Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad, who founded the sect in the 19th century in Pakistan.

In order for their demand to be heard, the discussion forum
will hold a protest on Saturday morning in front of an Ahmadiyah
mosque in Sawangan area, Depok, said Ahmad Syaifuddin, the
group's chairman, as quoted by Antara news agency. At least 150
people will participate in the protest, said Syaifuddin.

In a separate development, as the police named 12 suspects
responsible for the attack on Ahmadiyah properties in Cianjur,
West Java, a conservative Muslim group claimed on Thursday that
it would compensate Ahmadiyah for all damages incurred during the
attack on Monday night.

At least four mosques, 33 houses, four elementary school
buildings and four cars were damaged after a mob went on a
rampage in an Ahmadiyah neighborhood in Cianjur regency, West
Java. "The material losses will be compensated," said Cecep
Hermawan, the chairman of the Cianjur-based Islam Reformist
Movement. Although the group said it would provide compensation
for the material losses, it denied responsibility for the attack.

"We will compensate Ahmadiyah for the losses as we support the
movement to ban the group. But, we were not directly involved in
the attack." Cecep said that his organization would also provide
lawyers for the 12 people named as suspects in the attack.

The attackers were mostly local residents in Cianjur and
students from Muslim boarding schools near the Ahmadiyah
neighborhood.

Meanwhile, an Ahmadiyah leader demanded that the perpetrators
behind the attack be punished. Hakim Nurdin, an executive with
Bandung Ahmadiyah Youth, said that stern punishment was necessary
to deter other groups from committing similar attacks in the
future. The police arrested 48 people after the attack, but later
only named 12 suspects for damaging property belonging to
Ahmadiyah members.

A similar concern was also voiced by Dindin Abdullah Ghazali,
the spokesman of the Alliance for Harmony Between Different
Faiths. Dindin strongly condemned the attack, saying it had
violated human rights and religious freedom. He also demanded the
government compensate Ahmadiyah members. The attack has attracted
attention from the National Commission on Human Rights (KOMNAS
HAM), with several members of KOMNAS HAM reportedly visiting the
site on Thursday afternoon to investigate.