12/08/2024
- Fathiyah Wardah
Several civil society organizations and academics have criticized the Kuningan Regency Government, West Java, for banning the annual gathering of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Community (JAI) known as “Jalsah Salanah.” The ban was considered unconstitutional and intolerant.
JAKARTA –
Tensions in Manis Lor Village, Jalaksana District, Kuningan Regency, West Java, have been very pronounced in the past week after the Ahmadiyah congregation insisted on holding a “Jalsah Salanah” – a kind of annual gathering on December 6-8, even though the local government did not grant permission for security reasons.
“We will not cancel or postpone this event,” read a statement officially released by the Manislor Ahmadiyah Congregation on December 5. They still set up a stage and arranged chairs in the room and on the streets around the event location.
However, Acting Regent of Kuningan Agus Toyib insisted on enforcing the ban after holding a coordination meeting with the Forkopimda involving religious and community leaders who opposed “Jalsah Salanah.”
Police officers have been seen tightly guarding the location since the middle of this week to prevent any unwanted incidents.
Criticism from Civil Society Organizations and Academics
A number of civil society organizations and academics strongly criticized the ban issued by the Kuningan Regency Government.
In a press conference in Jakarta on Saturday (7/12), Setara Institute Executive Director Halili Hasan said that the pattern of persecution, discrimination, intolerance, and violations of religious and belief freedom against minority groups – in this case the Ahmadiyah group – was an open expression of violations of the country’s constitution and a form of the state’s submission to pressure against intolerant groups.
“If we look at what the state did before the Jalsa Salana yesterday, for example, to prevent bans, cancellations, rejections from a small intolerant group, I am a bit doubtful that the state will take precise action to guarantee the constitutional rights of citizens to freedom of religion and belief,” he said.
Regret the Attitude of Kuningan Regency Government
An Ahmadiyya congregation member who is also a participant of “Jalsah Salanah,” Firdaus Mubarik, recounted the enormous resources, costs and time that had been expended to hold this annual gathering. Many participants even came from out of town.
“What then became a big problem, there were so many participants from out of town, they were very tired. They left for two days by ship from NTB, transited in Surabaya, then took the train to Cirebon,” he said.
“After arriving in Cirebon, they traveled to Kuningan (Manislor) and could not enter because they were refused entry by the police. This is what caused the abandonment of six thousand Ahmadiyah residents who were going to be participants in the Jalsah Salanah,” Firdaus explained softly.
In addition to closing access to Manislor Village since Thursday (5/12) afternoon, the police also carried out intimidation, threatening using harsh words, kicking participant cars and others to make them leave the event location.
Firdaus admitted that he and some Ahmadiyah members were used to experiencing such events being disbanded or cancelled, but he considered the police actions in Manislor Village to be inhumane.
“Jalsah Salanah” is an annual gathering of Ahmadiyah members, like a grand pengajian (Islamic study group). The three-day event is usually attended not only by Ahmadiyah followers, but also by other groups. The purpose of this event, said Firdaus, is to convey peaceful Islamic ideas to the public, which indirectly is also an effort by Ahmadiyah to build relationships with other members.
It is not surprising that many civil society organizations, including: YLBI, ICRS UGM, STH Jentera, Sobat KBB, PGI, PUSAT Paramadina, Gusdurian, SETARA Institute, Fahmina Institute and Komnas Perempuan condemned the actions of the authorities and the Kuningan district government.
Questioning the Seriousness of the Prabowo Government
Researcher at the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada (ICRS UGM), Zainal Abidin Bagir, said that the ban on Ahmadiyah community activities was a clear violation of the right to assemble and organize.
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“It is a big mistake if the government and security forces in particular think that this is only a problem of one group, namely the Ahmadiyah. This is a problem of many people and we also see that many people are protesting. So this is not limited to the issue of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation, especially in Manislor,” he said.
According to him, the Prabowo government needs to reaffirm its commitment to maintaining harmony and religious freedom so that the incident in Manislor does not happen again. He also called for an investigation into the intimidation and violence that occurred, and for sanctions to be imposed on the perpetrators.
Agus Toyib claimed the decision to ban was to maintain security in his region to keep it conducive. According to him, the ban was based on West Java Governor Regulation Number 12 of 2011 concerning the prohibition of the activities of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation in West Java. [fw/em]
Categories: Ahmadis, Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Asia, Indonesia
As we can see while there is some opposition to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Indonesia there are also many who defend the rights of this community. In Pakistan there is opposition, both state sponsored and otherwise, and the voices in defense of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community are just very few …