Minorities shrug off guarantee of freedoms

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, National,  July 15 2012

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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