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Ahmadiyah

The Ahmadiyah are a small, avowedly Muslim, sect, claiming 500,000 members in Indonesia -- a figure that could be inflated. Ahmadiyah is considered heretical by many Muslims, and has come under attack recently by local militants. The Ahmadiyah adherents evidently believe Muhammad was not the final prophet, a belief inimical to the orthodox Sunni doctrine espoused by most Indonesian Muslims. The Ahamadiyah sect was founded in the 19th century. Jamaah Ahmadiyah has existed peacefully in Indonesia since 1925 and only began experiencing difficulties in recent years.

Mainstream Muslim groups have decided that Ahmadiyah is an illegitimate form of Islam; the question now is whether less tolerant Muslims will continue to feel this absolves them of responsibility to live in harmony with Ahmadiyah. The prevailing view that Ahmadiyah's beliefs and practices lie at the root of the problem provides a classic example of "blaming the victim" and will preclude a peaceful resolution for Ahmadiyah in the near term.

Ahmadiyah leaders raise the possible application of Sharia law to their community as a major concern. Describing Sharia law as "complex" and subject to various interpretations, they asserted that the Ahmadiyahs have their own unique take on Sharia. Consequently, they did not want to see a Sunni version of Sharia imposed on the Ahmadiyah community. They added that the proponents of Sharia law in Indonesia - including Islamic parties and/or groups such as the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and Hizb ul Tahrir - faced a theological quandary over its applicability to the Ahmadiyah. On the one hand, some adherents of these groups espoused applying Sharia law to the Ahmadiyah so that they would be subject to punishments for violating orthodox Islamic teaching. Other hardcore Islamists objected on the grounds that applying Sharia law to the Ahmadiyahs would constitute a tacit admission of their status as Muslims.

The Indonesia Ulama Council (MUI) Fatwa Commission takes questions from the public and issues fatwas (religious edicts). The MUI's mission is to protect core Islamic beliefs from outside influence. MUI fatwas against Ahmadiyah were part of the MUI's defense of Islamic beliefs. They found Ahmadiyah teachings deeply offensive. Ahmadiyah was too exclusive, that its followers built mosques next to mosques already established by other Muslims, and they should not call themselves Muslims if they will not pray with other Muslims. MUI's problem with Ahmadiyah was its claim to be a Muslim group. MUI would not question Ahmadiyah's freedom to operate if it did so as a separate religion. The Ahmadiyah community had not accepted the MUI's recommendation that the sect return to mainstream Islamic beliefs, recast themselves as a religion distinct from Islam, or dissolve their organization altogether.

In January 2007, Jamaah Ahmadiyah signed an agreement with the Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society (Bakor Pakem) -- a board made up of senior government officials from various ministries -- which required the group to cease teachings that deviated from mainstream Islamic beliefs, including Ahmadiyah not recognizing Muhammad as the last prophet. In an action which could result in wider discrimination against minority sects, the Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society (Bakor Pakem) issued a recommendation on 16 April 2008 to dissolve the Islamic sect Jamaah Ahmadiyah. Citing the 1965 law on the "prevention of misuse and disgrace of religion", Bakor Pakem stated the sect had failed to comply with a 12-point declaration signed in January 2007 and should be dissolved.

However, Attorney General Agung Handarman Supandji told the media on April 19 that the government wanted to resolve the issue through persuasion, "not directly through legal action." While the decree's implications were unclear, if implemented, sect members could potentially face arrest if they continued to worship. The government was in a delicate position. Under the Suharto regime, minority sects could operate more freely because the regime could easily quash any threats by religious groups. However, under the current democratic regime, the government was more hesitant to reign in hardline groups. This threatened ban is an attempt to appease these groups.

On 09 June 2008, the Attorney General, Minister of Religion and Minister of Home Affairs issued a Joint Ministerial Decree on Jemaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia that stopped short of banning the minority Islamic sect. A six-point decree "warns" members of Ahmadiyah against making their own interpretations of Islam and against spreading their beliefs. In an attempt to prevent vigilantism as a result of the decree, it also prohibits the public from taking the law into their own hands by taking illegal actions or committing violence against Ahmadiyah.

The government had been mulling issuing this decree for several weeks. The decree was issued hours after thousands from hard-line groups rallied in front of the Presidential Palace to demand the president dissolve Ahmadiyah. The demonstrators included the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), the Jakarta-based Forum Betawi Rempung (FBR), Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), and a few members of the mainstream Islamic United Development Party (PPP).

The decree itself was a typical display of the Yudhoyono administration's balancing act of secular and conservative Islamic interests. The decree was carefully planned to appease radical elements and still accommodate the Ahamadis' right to practice their faith. The decree's ambiguous wording was a delicate balance. President Yudhoyono's administration was concerned about a few fringe radical elements such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), and others, who are backed by certain members of Parliament and conservative politicians who want to destabilize this administration. Political backing for FPI might come from one of two camps: retired general and presidential hopeful Wiranto, who is widely known to have backed the civilian militia out of which FPI was established in 1998; or the political team of retired general and former BIN chief Hendropriyono, who has been associated with former president Megawati's campaign.

According to political observers, the decree was the first step toward banning Ahmadiyah and followed word-for-word a 1965 presidential decree against "misusing and/or denigrating religion." This decree, issued by President Sukarno, called first for ministers to prohibit activities of deviant groups, followed by a recommendation for the President to issue a ban if the group does not comply, and finally to arrest for non-compliance with the ban.

The joint decree would have several impacts: Ahmadi will retreat from society; people may interpret the decree to mean that the Ahmadi are not allowed to freely associate; Ahmadi may have trouble accessing public services such as marriage and birth certificates or going on the Haj; and the decree may motivate hard-liners to press for bans against those whose practices and beliefs differ from Sunni orthodoxy. Depending on how the decree is interpreted, Ahmadiyah followers may be allowed to continue practicing quietly as along as they do not prosletyze. That said, some pointed to the 1965 presidential decree upon which this action was based, which prohibits religious activities including prayer for deviant faiths.

Vice President Yusuf Kalla made a public assurance on 10 June 2008 that the Islamic sect Ahmadiyah will be free to worship in the privacy of their mosques, despite the June 9 joint decree outlawing Ahmadis from religious activities. The government has no plans to ban Ahmadiyah provided it follows the law, he said. He said this in light of the June 9 joint ministerial decree prohibiting Ahmadiyah from proselytizing and conducting religious activities which deviate from "the principle teachings of Islam". A senior Justice Ministry official publicly criticized the decree, saying it may have been the result of pressure from hardline groups.

However, the Minister of Religious Affairs, known for his conservative tendencies, told the press if the Ahmadi spread the teaching that there is a prophet after Muhammad, they could face police sanctions. He did not clarify if Ahmadiyah would face sanctions if they continued to use such teachings internally but did add that Ahmadiyah could no longer remain closed to outside clerics.

In March 2011 three Indonesian provinces issued decrees that prohibit the Ahmadiyah from publicly manifesting their faith. Provincial governments in West and East Java and South Sulawesi issued their decrees following a mob attack that killed three Ahmadiyah followers in Banten almost one month ago. The Minister for Law and Human Rights and the Minister of Religious Affairs supported the provincial decrees claiming that they are necessary to maintain public order. The provincial decrees appear to violate Indonesia’s constitution, which guarantees religious freedom. President Yudhoyono had not called for the decrees to be repealed, though he did call for the protection of Ahmadiyah followers, the arrest of perpetrators of violence, and an investigation into whether police provided sufficient protection for the Ahmadiyah community of Banten.

During the year 2012 a number of regional governments enforced decrees limiting or banning the free practice of Ahmadiyya Islam. These decrees were often vague in their language, which led to inconsistent enforcement by local authorities. For example, on October 25, members of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) in Bandung, West Java reported to local police that they had observed an Ahmadi Muslim congregation preparing for the ritual slaughter of animals that is part of the observance of the Eid-ul-Adha holiday. The FPI members and police returned to the Ahmadi mosque and arrested three members of the congregation. Police and the FPI reportedly worked together in an attempt to coerce the Ahmadi Muslims to sign admissions of guilt for violating a 2011 gubernatorial decree that limited their right to practice and defined “spreading the sect” as any public display of their faith. Upon the Ahmadi Muslims’ refusal to do so, the FPI members returned to the mosque and vandalized it. Provincial-level police then encouraged the previously detained Ahmadiyya congregation members to file criminal complaints against the FPI for damaging their property, resulting in the arrest of a local FPI leader.

Interreligious couples also continued to face obstacles to marrying and officially registering their marriages and often had difficulty finding clergy to perform the required ceremonies before registering a marriage. On November 12, the director of the local office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Salawu, West Java refused to register the marriage of an Ahmadi Muslim groom and Sunni bride, as it was “haram (prohibited under Islamic Law) to record their marriage as they (Ahmadis) are not the real Muslims.”