Jakarta - Thousands of Indonesian Muslims staged a peaceful
but noisy protest outside presidential palace on Monday, calling for
the government to immediately ban the minority Ahmadiyah sect that
the country's top cleric called 'deviant.'
Members of Islamic organizations around the capital Jakarta and
nearby areas, including hardliner groups the Islamic Defenders Front
(FPI) and Hizbut Tahrir, also demanded the police released FPI
chairman Habib Rizieq from jail.
'This peaceful action is again to remind the government to
immediately finish its homework, disbanding Ahmadiyah which have
clearly proven to besmirch Islamic teachings,' said Muhammad
Al-Khaththath, secretary-general of the Islamic Forum.
About 5,000 demonstrators shouted 'Disband Ahmadiyah! Disband
Ahmadiyah.!' The rally sparked heavy traffic jams in the capital's
thoroughfares.
'We are demanding President SBY to soon outlaw Ahmadiyah,'
Musthofa Assegaf, told reporters after a meeting with presidential
spokesman, Andi Malarangeng. SBY is the abbreviation for Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono.
After gathering outside the presidential palace, the protesters
marched to the Jakarta city police headquarters to pay respects to
jailed FPI chairman Rizieq.
Rizieq and eight FPI members were arrested for their roles in the
June 1 stick-wielding attack by militant supporters against a rally
for religious tolerance, injuring dozens of people.
Several lawmakers also demanded an official ban on Ahmadiyah as
one way to end the controversy.
'This is no longer concerns of freedom of religion, but links to
blasphemy. If the government does not take action, we are afraid more
conflicts will occur in society,' Hazrul Azwar, lawmaker from the
Muslim-based United Development Party, was quoted as saying by The
Jakarta Post.
Attacks on followers of Ahmadiyah have been on the rise since a
government commission declared in April the sect deviant and
recommended the minority group be outlawed.
The Indonesian Ulema Council, the country's highest authority on
Islam, has declared the Ahmadiyah sect heretical for believing its
founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who died in 1908 in India, is the last
prophet - instead of Mohammed, whom mainstream Muslims worldwide
believe was God's final messenger.
Human rights activists and civil liberties groups argue that
followers of Ahmadiyah - believed to have 200,000 followers in
predominantly Muslim Indonesia - are protected under the country's
constitution, which guarantees the right to religious freedom.
Ahmadiyah has also faced persecution in other Muslim countries.
Its followers insist it should be considered part of Islam.
Indonesia is the world's most-populous Islamic nation, with nearly
88 per cent of its 225 million people being Muslims. The country has
a long history of religious tolerance.
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