Jakarta – In Yogyakarta, the cultural centre of the island of Java in Indonesia, the governor, Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, has set an interesting precedent by refusing to ban the Ahmadiyah religious group. The group was founded by a 19th century Indian religious leader, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed he was the promised Messiah foretold by the Prophet Muhammad. Though Ahmadis consider themselves Muslim, mainstream Muslims disagree with the belief that the Messiah has returned and therefore consider their teachings blasphemy.
The right to freedom of expression and organisation in Indonesia, granted in 1998, has provided fuel for the emergence of a wide variety of civil society groups. Unfortunately, not all of these groups reflect the positive aspirations of the Indonesian people and a small but significant number of these groups have chosen violence as a way of making their demands heard.
The Ahmadi community has sadly borne the brunt of this violence in recent months, often at the hands of minority extremist religious groups who believe the Ahmadiyah faith is heretical.
In an attempt to avoid confrontation and violence in their regions by appeasing militant groups, governors in Banten and East and West Java, as well as some local regents and mayors, have issued decrees that ban the practice of the Ahmadiyah faith to “prevent further violence”. This means rather than protecting the Ahmadis, the government places the blame for violence and disorder on the victims of the violence.
Categories: Human Rights, Indonesia, Law and Religion
This is an extremely courageous step as opposed to governors of Banten and East and West Java who gave way to militants and issued a decree to ban the Ahamadiyya Muslim Community in their states.
Yogyakarta City (English: /ˌjɒɡjəˈkɑrtə/ or /ˌjoʊɡjəˈkɑrtə/, Malay: [jɔɡjaˈkarta]; also Jogja, Jogjakarta) is a city in the Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. It is renowned as a centre of classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry, and puppet shows. Yogyakarta was the Indonesian capital during the Indonesian National Revolution from 1945 to 1949.
In our global village intolerance of any group works only against them by defaming them and their religion. It is not only the right thing to do but in this information age tolerance and pluralism are the only principles that serve self interest.
Well done Governor, Sultan Hamengkubuwono X.