Followers
of minority faiths have dismissed the remark on state protection of religious
freedoms, citing inconsistency on the ground and in the courts.
Constitutional
Court chief Mahfud MD told visiting
German Chancellor Angela Merkel Tuesday that people could even be
atheists and communists as long as they did not ‘interfere’ with people who
chose a religion.
A Shia
follower, Iklil Al Milal, 40, for instance, said Mahfud’s statement
contradicted with last week’s verdict on his brother, Tajul Muluk, who was
sentenced to two years in prison for blasphemy against Islam.
Judges at the
Sampang District Court in Madura, East Java declared Tajul’s Shia teaching
defied mainstream Sunni Muslims in Indonesia.
“A smart
man like Mahfud must know that many countries have officially recognized Shia
as another denomination in Islam beside Sunni,” Iklil said, adding that he
expected Indonesia to also recognize his belief soon.
During his
brother’s trial, he said, many expert witnesses had told the judges that the
court was not mandated to settle the differences between the Shia and Sunni.
“Both
denominations have thousands of years of differences. Indonesians should have
learned to live side by side with their Shia neighbors,” said Iklil, quoting
testimonies in one of his brother’s hearings.
Iklil was
among dozens of Shia followers, who had to leave their hometown in Sampang, to
avoid hostile locals. Last December, a group of people burned down an Islamic
boarding school in Sampang, owned by Tajul.
The mobs
accused Tajul of propagating heretic Islamic teachings. Now, Iklil resides in
Sidoarjo, East Java, living separately from his wife and five children in
Malang, East Java.
Iklil said
Mahfud’s statement was too good to be true.
“He can say
as he pleases. But in reality minorities are prosecuted in this country.
Ahmadiyah and Shia followers, for instance, still have to fight for their
religious freedom."
“We are
also Indonesian citizens. We have rights to live in this land.”
Meanwhile,
another minority religion follower, Mukhsin of Ahmadiyah, lauded Mahfud’s
statement and agreed that Indonesia already had a legal foundation to guarantee
the freedom of religion.
However,
the exercise of such freedom is often not protected by authorities, he said.
Often
followers of minority Islam sects in Indonesia, such as Shia and Ahmadiyah,
become objects of prosecution because the majority of Sunnis here consider the
two sects deviating from mainstream Islamic teachings.
On Friday
locals attacked the residential area of around 500 Ahmadis living in Mukhsin’s
village in Cisalada, Bogor, in West Java. Mukhsin said locals objected to the
visit of a group of Netherlands’ researchers and journalists, who wanted to
tape a story about Ahmadis’ life.
“The
journalists only wanted to cover our agriculture activities. They were brought
here by the Ahmadiyah’s headquarters; we didn’t know about their scheduled
visit,” he said.
Five
Ahmadis were injured, and two of them were taken to hospital, Mukhsin said.
During the
attack, only five police officers appeared at the scene. Only after locals
disbanded themselves, some 200 officers showed up, he said.
“Prior to
the attack, I came to Ciampea police district [in Bogor] on Thursday to request
more security, considering a rumor about FPI [the Islam Defenders Front]’s plan
to attack Ahmadiyah community in Parung [Bogor] on July 15 [this Sunday],” he
said.
Police, he
said, had accepted his reports, but took no action. Therefore, police failed to
safeguard the Ahmadis despite an imminent threat.
“We are not
a Muslim-based country, but a Pancasila-based country. We are protected by the
law. But police did not make sufficient measures to prevent any attack on us,”
Mukhsin told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
According
to the 1965 law on blasphemy, the state recognizes Islam, Catholicism,
Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.
The Court
under Mahfhudo in 2010 upheld the law on blasphemy. Rights activists say the
law lends justification of violence to minority faiths such as the Ahmadiyah
and Shia. (yps/riz)
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