Source: ucanews.com

Aminah, an Ahmadi Muslim whose son died after being attacked by a mob on February 6, 2011 is escorted by a policeman as she inspects her torched house in Pandeglang, Banten province the following day. Three Ahmadis where killed in the incident, involving more than 1,000 Muslims who stormed the house in West Java to stop the minority sect from holding worship (AFP Photo/Nurani Nuutong)

Indonesian Ahmadis are no strangers to persecution, with attacks and discrimination rife, but leader Iskandar Gumay hopes better days are ahead for the minority Muslim sect under new President Joko Widodo.

The cleric has witnessed attempts to torch his mosque and seen worshippers elsewhere prevented from burying their dead, however he believes a draft law shows Indonesia’s leader is committed to tackling religious intolerance.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, has seen its image as tolerant and pluralist suffer due to a spike in religious violence. As well as Ahmadis, minority Shias and Christians have been targeted in the Sunni-majority country.

The Indonesian constitution guarantees freedom of religion. Six faiths are officially recognized — Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

But this has not stopped attacks, and Ahmadis in particular have been targeted by hardline groups who oppose the sect’s belief that a lesser prophet followed Mohammad.

Gumay says Ahmadis are sometimes denied ID cards, while his sister was refused a marriage certificate because the authorities claimed she was not a Muslim.

Just west of Jakarta his fellow Ahmadis have faced much worse, with three adherents of the sect brutally murdered by a mob in 2011 as police stood by.

Gumay believes the new president faces a challenge addressing this… read more at ucanews.com