13 October 2008

On 9th June 2008, the Indonesia Government, bowing to pressure from extreme and fanatical Muslim groups, hastily adopted a formal ‘Joint Ministerial Decree’ against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat (Community) in Indonesia. This Decree stated that members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat were to ‘discontinue the promulgation of interpretation and activities’ of its beliefs which were branded as ‘deviant’. The Decree imposed sanctions on any members of the Jamaat who were found to be in breach of the Decree.

Most damningly the Decree gave State legitimacy to the persecution of the Jamaat in Indonesia which had been occurring for a number of years. As a result of this new found ‘legitimacy’ the persecution of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Indonesia has markedly intensified over the past few months.

Since the Decree was issued more than ten Ahmadiyya Mosques have been sealed and many more have been attacked. Furthermore, Ahmadi Muslims have been forced to offer prayers behind non-Ahmadi Imams. This is something that no Ahmadi Muslim could ever do willingly because to do so would be to perform prayers behind a person who did not believe in the truth of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian.

This year the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat is celebrating the one hundredth year of Khilafat, which is the system of spiritual leadership that unites the entire Jamaat at the hand of the ‘Khalifa’. Unfortunately members of the Jamaat in Indonesia have been prohibited from celebrating this historic year. In one instance the logo marking the Khilafat Centenary celebrations was torn down in Pampangan by local leaders who could not bear the Ahmadiyya celebrations. In respect of this, Abid Khan, Press Secretary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat said:

A number of other incidents have been reported whereby Ahmadi Muslims have been subjected to various forms of persecution. This persecution has now reached a stage where the Ahmadis are even denied their basic civil rights. In one such example, in the south of Sumatera the Office of Religious Affairs continues to refuse issuing marriage certificates to Ahmadis until they sign a declaration abandoning their association to the Jamaat.

Despite widespread criticism both from the International Community and the International Media, the Indonesian Government shows no sign of withdrawing its Ministerial Decree. In this respect the International Community is urged to take note of the warning issued by Indonesia’s former Head of State, President Abdur-Rahman Wahid who recently in an interview with the Reuters news agency said that if the persecution of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat was allowed to continue then it would lead to the persecution of other religions in the country. He said: