Al Arqom Islamic sect leader banned from entering Indonesia

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)