In ‘Indonesia’s Religious Freedom Must Be For All,’ Bernhard Platzdasch of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore, writes that a clampdown on the Islamic Ahmadiyah sect brings into focus the larger context of religious freedom and tolerance in today’s Indonesia.
Indonesia has since independence proclaimed itself a religiously devout but tolerant and secular state. Indonesian state doctrine, Pancasila, acknowledges six religions and pledges to treat these faiths equally. They are Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and – the latest entry – Confucianism. Next to these mainstream religions, Indonesia is home to countless non-conformist and syncretist religious movements.
But the question of the legal status and pressure on the Islamic Ahmadiyah sect brings into focus the growing influence of Islamic conservatism on religious freedom and tolerance in today’s Indonesia…
Lately, the Islamic Ahmadiyah sect – a movement founded in Punjab, India, in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad – has been bearing the brunt of Islamic conservatism. There have been numerous attacks against Ahmadiyah communities throughout 2010 that have continued in 2011.
Like other Muslims, Ahmadis observe the five pillars of Islam: the belief in a single creator and Muhammad’s prophethood, observing the five daily prayers, fasting, alms-giving and — in theory — the pilgrimage, although Ahmadis are banned from visiting Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Ahmadiyah leaders often describe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as a teacher and mentor who inspired his disciples to strengthen Islamic proselytising and Islamic teachings.
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Mr. Bernhard Platzdasch has written a detailed paper on “Religious Freedom in Indonesia: The Case of the Ahmadiyah”; it is an important piece of writing and must be read.
This article explains the controversy over the legal status of the Islamic Ahmadiyya sect, put into the larger context of the question over religious freedom and tolerance in today’s Indonesia. It covers the disproportional influence of Islamist civil society groups on the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono government and the government’s intervention in religious and social affairs despite Indonesia supposedly being a secular state.
It argues that in dealing with the Ahmadiyya issue, the government has been yielding to Islamist pressure because of concern of a backlash by Muslim electorates. It also suggests that the deeper cause for the problems of the Ahmadis are the inconsistencies within Indonesian law, which is not clearcut and absolute in its protection of religious freedom as is often erroneously claimed. It further highlights that most Muslim leaders from mainstream Muslim organizations tended to be firm in supporting those laws inimical to full religious freedom and legal recognition of Ahmadiyya.
Please download the full article in pdf:
Categories: Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Human Rights, Indonesia, Religion