The Jakarta Globe:
One year ago today, Indonesia hit the headlines with the murder of three members of the Islamic Ahmadiyah sect, by a mob over a thousand strong in a small town not far from Jakarta.
YouTube videos of the incident in Cikeusik, Banten, showed the mob gathering, screaming “God is Great” and calling for Ahmadi blood. They lunge forward to throw stones at the house they are attacking and run back when the defending Ahmadis throw stones back.
One of the kingpins moves further forward, brandishing his machete in the traditional martial art style of pencak silat. Then we see naked figures bathed in blood, members of the mob still beating them with sticks and rocks, some recording their “heroism” on mobile-phone cameras. The images and the story race around the world, shocking and sickening civilized people everywhere, including people in Indonesia.
To say that the Cikeusik murders were premeditated would be an understatement. The fate of Indonesian Ahmadis had been sealed years before, when Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) leaders began calling for their killing.
A YouTube video shows Sobri Lubis, a national-level leader of the FPI, going berserk as he whips up the emotions of his congregation, screaming: “Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill Ahmadiyah!” He also boasts that should anyone kill Ahmadis, he would be ready to take responsibility alongside his fellow FPI leaders.
Categories: Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Asia, Crime, Human Rights, Indonesia
Witnessing the legal proceedings related to the Cikeusik murders was an eye opener.
YouTube revealed how one of the Ahmadi survivors was intimidated and threatened by a zealous judge, who asked him why he didn’t just go and get himself killed that day. The victim was in the end given a six-month prison term for his efforts to protect property and human lives.
This means that the murderers in all probability were set free and licensed to resume their work as preachers of violence and hatred.