Sect leader, followers arrested

Sect leader, followers arrested

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In a move that many saw as unnecessary, Jakarta Police declared
on Thursday Lia Eden and 32 of her followers suspects for
defamation of religion a day after members of the cult were
forcibly evacuated from their headquarters on Jl. Mahoni in
Senen, Central Jakarta.

Another 15 people also evacuated from the house by the police
to prevent a clash with local residents on Wednesday were not
named suspects because they were just participants in the
gathering at the headquarters.

Jakarta Police Insp. Gen. Firman Gani added the police would
charge members of the cult, known as Salamullah, under Article
156a of the Criminal Code on religious defamation.

Former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, however,
criticized the move saying that the authorities should hold a
dialog with the group to straighten things out.

"If they are considered a heretic group then the authorities
should hold a dialog to clear things up instead of arresting
them," he said during a discussion on freedom of religion in
Jakarta.

Gus Dur said the government should leave religious affairs to
civil society as it was not the government's concern.

He proposed that a new institution with clear-cut jurisdiction
be set up to determine if a religious teaching was a heresy or
not.

Many of the residents in the neighborhood even acknowledged
they did not know, or at least did not care about the presence of
the cult headed by Lia, who was previously known as Lia
Aminuddin, located at Jl. Mahoni No. 30.

Neighbors only become aware of the group after Lia, who claims
to be the Holy Spirit, distributed flyers to her neighbors
announcing that the house had become the Kingdom of God or Eden
Palace on Dec. 5.

Several other flyers, including a clarification on a report
that the cult's teachings were heresy and an invitation to
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to the house, were also
distributed to houses in the neighborhood several times after
that.

"They never bothered or intimidated us before. Sometimes Lia's
followers went outside and we met them. However, they recently
became active distributing several flyers to us. We just don't
like the content of the flyers. They should have kept their
teachings to themselves," Firdaus, 40, whose house is only 20
meters from Lia's place, told The Jakarta Post.

He said that they considered Lia and her followers strange
people with a different way of thinking.

Lia's flyers, however, were responded to by members of the
congregation of nearby Meranti Mosque, which also distributed
flyers condemning Lia's teachings as heresy, and asked residents
to join a gathering in front of Lia's house on Dec. 30.

Lia, who this time claimed to be God's messenger Gabriel,
responded with new flyers on Dec. 25, threatening to take the
lives of the Meranti Mosque's committee members if they held the
gathering.

The flyers invited residents to gather in front of her house
on Wednesday to see what kind of people were there in the house.

"We were just very curious in the beginning. But as more
people came, many began to shout and boo at them. I think it
would have ended up in violence if the police had not come
quickly," Rahman, 30, another neighbor said.