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National News

March 20, 2006

Ahmadiyah gets fresh attack, house razed in Lombok

Panca Nugraha, The Jakarta Post, Mataram

A house belonging to an Ahmadiyah follower has been destroyed by his own neighbors in Central Lombok, but nobody was injured during the attack, a police officer said Saturday.

The provincial police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. HM Basri surmised that the attack occurred because the people did not like an Ahmadiyah member living near them. The house belonged to a man identified as Amaq Jumahir, aged 50.

“The local people have decided to forbid any Ahmadiyah follower from living in their neighborhood,” he said.

No reports whether the police have arrested the attackers.

The idea to destroy the house and expel Jumahir had been announced after Friday prayers at a local mosque, Basri said.

At least 300 people gathered in the kampong later in the evening and marched to Jumahir’s house and destroyed it.

“The owner had already fled, earlier in the afternoon,” Basri stated.

He added that Jumahir was the only Ahmadiyah follower living in Praya village.

Police officers on Lombok explained that they had taken preventive measures to ward off such an attack a week earlier. Two officers were ordered to stand guard near the house. However, the police guards were outnumbered by the angry residents, Basri said.

The incident concluded after West Lombok police deployed more officers later in the evening, and as of Saturday, more security officers remained on guard at Jumahir’s wrecked home.

The attack was the second such incident in as many months against Ahmadiyah followers on Lombok, after 32 families were expelled from Ketapang village in West Lombok on Feb. 4. Their houses were also destroyed and the people had to flee for their safety to other areas.

In July last year, an estimated 10,000 members of the “Indonesian Muslim Solidarity” attacked the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation complex in Bogor, West Java. The attackers claimed that Ahmadiyah members had engaged in the practice of teaching local people.

The violence sparked fears of possible attacks on other Ahmadiyah members across the country. Ahmadiyah has some 200,000 followers, and was first established in Indonesia in 1925.

The government recognized Ahmadiyah as a corporate body in 1953. But in 1984, the Religious Affairs Ministry issued a circular to its regional offices to consider Ahmadiyah’s teachings as “heresy”, because they believe founder Mirza Gulam Ahmad was a prophet. Muslims believe Muhammad was the last prophet.

The Indonesian Ulema Council recently issued a fatwa that forbids Ahmadiyah’s teachings after studying nine books on the matter.

Source: www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060320.D01&irec=1