Al Arqom Islamic sect leader banned from entering Indonesia

JAKARTA (JP): The government will prohibit Al Arqom Islamic sect leader Abuya M. Ashaari from entering Indonesia because his activities have become political concerns in other countries, Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher announced.

Speaking to the press after meeting with Vice President Try Sutrisno here last week, Tarmizi said the government does not want to see the country become a staging point for the sect's proselytizing activities.

"(His activities) could poison the (Indonesian Moslems) brotherhood, especially among the younger generations," Tarmizi said.

Tarmizi pointed out that Ashaari has changed his activities from efforts to foment spiritual enlightenment among Moslems, into a politically motivated movement. "He even declared himself a prospective prime minister (of Malaysia)" Tarmizi said.

Tarmizi also charged that Ashaari's followers have turned the bearded, 57-year-old preacher into a personality cult. Among his teachings was allowing male sect members to take more than one wife without legitimate reasons as Prophet Muhammad taught, Tarmizi said.

"He even teaches his followers that a good wife is one who can find another wife for her husband," Tarmizi said.

Indonesian ulemas are currently examining Ashaari's teachings while Moslem leaders in the provinces of Aceh and West Sumatra have already issued a decree prohibiting the dissemination of the teachings, according to Tarmizi.

The Indonesian government's decision to ban Ashaari is in line with the stances of its neighbors, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore.

During a press conference in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai on Wednesday, Ashaari vowed to return to his Malaysian homeland.

"I will probably end my exile in a matter of months," Reuter quoted the leader who was deported from Singapore on Tuesday.

Ashaari said he was determined to return home to oversee and expand his sect's multi-million dollar business empire. He expressed confidence that he would be allowed back into Malaysia, which he fled in 1970, two years after founding Al-Arqom, after the official Islamic center accused him of deviant teachings. He has since been a missionary for the group elsewhere in Asia.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has branded Al-Arqom a potential threat to national security after an official Islamic body in Kuala Lumpur accused him of training "suicide warriors" in Thailand.

The sect dismisses the accusation as slander, and Thai officials deny there are any Al-Arqom training camps in Thailand, but said they will investigate the sect and its activities.

Al-Arqom formed a holding company last year claiming assets of 300 million ringgit (US$115 million). The sect has an estimated 100,000 followers in 48 communes in Malaysia and thousands more in other countries.

Ashaari said 80 percent of the sect's business is in Malaysia, with no interests in Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and Europe.

Ashaari declared, "We (Al-Arqom) don't agree with the present political system because it is not Islamic." (swe)