The Jakarta Globe:
About 20 members of the beleaguered Ahmadiyah sect in Tasikmalaya, West Java, supposedly embraced Sunni Islam on Monday and declared their devotion to Indonesia’s most popular religious sect during a ceremony at a mosque.
“They pledged allegiance to their [new] faith three times. [The event] was witnessed by the Minister of Religious Affairs and the Tasikmalaya district head,” Nurul Mubin, the head of the Islamic Defender’s Front (FPI) in Tasikmalaya, said on Monday, as quoted by Detik.com.
In addition, the Ahmadis were required to recite the syahadat — an affirmation that there is only one god and that Muhammad was his last prophet.
Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said that he was so proud that he “began to cry when they recited the syahadat.”
The minister also promised to provide school scholarships for the children of the newly-converted Ahmadis.
Meanwhile, Nurul claimed that prior to these new converts, a total of 728 Indonesian Ahmadis have accepted mainstream Sunni Islam.
“This is not a new development,” Firdaus Mubarik, a spokesman for the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI), said. “It’s normal that the government would bring up the issue of Ahmadiyah conversions after recent attacks on Ahmadiyah mosques.”
He was skeptical of the validity of the supposed conversions, and in his view, there were two possible scenarios that could have unfolded.
One possibility is that these Ahmadis were forced to convert to Sunnism on threat of being expelled from their villages with their families, as what happened in Cianjur, West Java, in March 2012.
“The second possibility is that they’re actually the same people who claimed to embrace [Sunni] Islam several months or even years ago. Journalists should seek out the data and find out if they have truly converted,” he said.
Firdaus went on to recommend that the government make available the list of Ahmadis who supposedly converted to Sunni Islam.
The comments in the original post are heart-warming:
Wonderer:
I am increasingly growing from concerned over worried to outraged and scared!
It is one (bad enough) thing to not immediately react to the acts of violence against Pancasila.
It is an entirely different thing to persistently remain silent (the president) and have government officials openly sporting one religious believe over the other (the minister of religious NOT Muslim affairs)!
I DEMAND the president to take position! It is NOT an option for the resident to not have an opinion in this matter.
Silence means support for the perpetrators!
KNOW this Mr president! Know this, people of Indonesia!
sissi • 3 hours ago
Freedom of religion like what stated in Pancasila….. But ‘where’ in practice????
Roland • 3 hours ago
And BTW – just remembering in regards of weird people who served as Minister for Religious (=Sunni Islamic) Affairs. Who remembers the weird fellow who was minister under Megawati, Said Agil Husin Al Munawar (I admit I had to look up the name) who had this dream about some (10,000 truck loads) of gold being buried somewhere and started (government paid) excavation for a while – of course without any results….
•Reply•Share ›
henk • 3 hours ago
There shall be NO coercion in Islam….
right…..
Strength • 4 hours ago
“Journalists should seek out the data and find out if they have truly converted,” he said. WHAT????? NO. NO. They should not. Leave them alone. It’s no one’s business what they believe. What, so it can be uncovered that they really don’t believe it and then the ignorant thugs can come and kill them? The ignorance is STUNNING!!!!
Valkyrie1604 • 6 hours ago
“The minister also promised to provide school scholarships for the children of the newly-converted Ahmadis”
Only 20 converts and the minister was in attendance with crocodile tears being shed? Let me see, converts? Don’t we all know.
Catweazle • 6 hours ago −
Sounds more like forced subjugation than a conversion by freewill.. with the menacing presence of the FPI in attendance to make sure the newly enslaved behaved themselves and performed obediently in front of the gathered media. What a PR success, it even brought tears to the Religious Affairs Minister’s eyes! How naïve do they think we are?
human2 • 7 hours ago
Suryadharma Ali, you should be ashamed of yourself. “I was so touched I cried” Disgusting!!! You forced people to convert from their own religion and you see beauty? I see hate and intolerance… and on the cycle goes….another sad day in Indonesia.
and … ha ha ha.
Do these people not know that we Ahmadis believe in Islam and recite the same “syahadat” (as the Indonesian spell it).
When the bigoted, misguided agitators disrupt human society and start burning of the houses,shops, mosques of the persecuted Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and only last year, three Ahmadi Muslims of Indonesian roots, were put to death in most barbaric manner. All these most inhuman cruel acts
were performed in the name of Islam, religion of peace, safety and ‘salamati’ of all for all the times to come.Alas, during these disturbances, the most regretful aspect was the irresponsible attitude of the local police and civil administration which kept itself standing aloof
away from the horrific D & D scene and did nothing to prevent death and destruction of Ahmadis and their properties. All this is very sorrowful state of affairs which needs urgent prompt action so as to safeguard the hard-hit-minority members of the Indonesian Ahmadiyya Muslim community. All these are shameful acts of the majority people against the less numbered minority of the Ahmadi Muslims.
but still we the Ahmadis, worldwide,would pray before our God Almighty God for his urgent helpfor the end of these-like barbaric acts on the fair soil of Pakistan. O God! help us as if doing our class-work well in time to earn the appreciation and Recognition of this unique distinction of one our dedicated members of Jama’at-e-Ahmadiyya, Japan. Ameen.