Denying basic human rights

Denying basic human rights

I question the logic of the statements made by Brig. Gen. Iman
Haryatna, the police chief of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), regarding
the reasons behind the ransacking and burning of the Ahmadiyah
secretariat building and the Ahmadiyah mosque at Selong (East
Lombok calm after arson attacks, The Jakarta Post, Sept.
13). Apparently, he feels that the 1983 ban on the Ahmadiyah
community should be enforced more strongly, which would prevent
such "unexpected events" from occurring.

In point of fact, it seems that the Indonesian Ulemas Council
(MUI) and local factions siding with the MUI, which had
originally called for the ban, are fomenting intolerance in the
local community. There are at least eight Ahmadiyah mosques in
Jakarta alone, as well as over 240 mosques and missions
throughout the country. In each of these places, tolerance for
other religious communities is fostered, and interfaith harmony
is promoted. Can the MUI say that it, too, fosters interfaith
harmony, when its acts of intolerance are a matter of public
record?

The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights
and Labor, in its Annual Report for International Religious
Freedom (2001), lists many of MUI's demonstrations of
intolerance. These include the issuing of edicts banning the Hare
Krishna and Bah'ai communities, the rejection of the Salamulla
Congregation (Jamaah Salamulla), which ultimately contributed to
the vandalization of its retreat in West Java in May of 2001, and
its denigration of the Jehovah's Witnesses community.

On a larger scale, such intolerance is a reflection of the
Indonesian government as a whole, which provides MUI with
recognition and financing. Government policies, such as requiring
citizens to indicate religious preference on their national ID
cards, have been backward and intolerant from the start. Many
hard-working citizens, who are not members of the six "official"
religions approved by the government, find themselves with great
difficulties in registering their marriages and births and in
receiving employment as a result of this humiliating practice.

Even from thousands of miles away here in America, it is easy
to take notice of such practices, which deny citizens their
fundamental rights to religious freedom. This letter is an
example of how the world continues to watch Indonesia, hoping for
such violations to end immediately.

DR. ARSHAD M. KHAN

Los Angeles, California

USA