Indonesia Topics

The government on Monday delayed issuing a decree to outlaw the Islamic sect Jamaah Ahmadiyah, saying it needed more time to draft the details of the legal document.

Last week, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji announced the joint ministerial decree would be made public Monday at the Home Ministry.

However, Home Minister Mardiyanto said Monday the government was still finalizing the decree to be signed by him, Hendarman and Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni.

The government was “very cautious” in drafting the decree to avoid incorrect interpretations from the public, Mardiyanto said.

“This a legal product that will be part of our positive law. We must be very cautious and precise to avoid violating the existing laws,” he told a news conference.

The Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society (Bakor Pakem) officially declared Ahmadiyah “heretical” last month and recommended the government ban it.

The interdepartmental board said it found Ahmadiyah had continued its religious activities that deviated from mainstream Islamic teachings.

Numerous hard-line and radical Muslim groups lauded the recommendation and demanded an immediate ban on Ahmadiyah.

However, moderate Muslim scholars and activists as well as human right campaigners condemned the anti-Ahmadiyah recommendation.

They warned President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono a ban on Ahmadiyah would be a serious violation of the Constitution, which could lead to his impeachment.

The ban, critics argued, would violate the article of the Constitution that guarantees freedom of religious beliefs.

House of Representatives speaker Agung Laksono similarly warned Monday such a ban could spark renewed violence against Ahmadiyah members.

Mardiyanto said the problem police faced in ensuring the protection of Ahmadiyah members from attacks was partly behind the delay.

Ahmadiyah spokesman Mubarik threatened to take legal action against the government should it go ahead with the issuance.

“The decision will be a legal product so we will file a complaint with a district court or ask the Constitutional Court to review it.

“Until we get a final verdict, we have the right to continue our activities,” he said.

Mubarik said the biggest concern for Ahmadiyah was that the decree would be used as justification by radical groups to renew attacks on the sect’s members across the country.

“For our members living in major cities, we are safe enough, but what about others living in villages who don’t have adequate protection from police?

“That’s why we have officially asked the National Police to protect all of our members,” he said.

Mubarik said new attacks on Ahmadiyah began right after the Bakor Pakem recommendation, including last week’s incident at Parakan Salak village in Sukabumi, West Java, where a group calling itself the Jamaah Al-Mubalighin Communication Forum burned down a mosque belonging to the sect. (The Jakarta Post)

APJII or Indonesian Internet Service Provider Association eventually blocked Youtube access through Indonesia Internet Exchange. Thus, majority of Indonesians who use this line will be unable to open Youtube. This has been an official command from Indonesia’s Minister of Information & Communication Muhammad Nuh.

However, APJII cannot guarantee that the access over Youtube is fully blocked from entire Indonesia. APJII head Sylvia Sumarlin says,”Because there are also several other lines, ISPs are usually have redundancy”.

This action is a response towards official letter from the Minister of Information and Communication to block Youtube over the distribution of Fitna the movie which can harm the unity and tolerance between believers in Indonesia.

On April 2nd, Indonesia government have asked Youtube to remove several Fitna videos for 2 days. However, there are still no response.

Sumarlin states that APJII will also coordinate with Mastel, Imoca, Awari and others regarding mechanism on blocking some other harmful sites. “We don’t want to be discriminative to Youtube, we will also consider others,” says Sumarlin.

Indonesia said Tuesday it would block access to YouTube unless the video-sharing Web site removes an anti-Muslim film by a Dutch lawmaker within 48 hours.

Communications and Information Minister Mohammad Nuh said the government sent a letter to the site informing it of its demand on Tuesday.

“The deadline is two days. If (the film) is not removed by that time, we will block YouTube under cooperation with the Internet service providers,” Nuh told reporters in the capital, Jakarta.

Anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders posted the 15-minute film on LiveLeak.com on Friday. It has since been available on other blogs and file-sharing sites, including YouTube.

Last year, Thailand blocked YouTube for four months because of clips it deemed offensive to the king. The ban was lifted after YouTube’s owner, Google Inc., agreed to not allow videos that break Thai laws or offend the Thai people.

In February, YouTube was inaccessible globally for several hours after the government of Pakistan blocked it, citing what it said were clips in which Wilders made denigrating remarks about Islam.

Wilders’ film intersperses scenes of recent terror attacks with versus from the Quran, Islam’s holy book, and speeches from Islamic extremists calling for attacks on non-Muslims. It has been condemned as racist and misleading by governments around the world.

Earlier Tuesday, about 50 people rallied outside the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta calling for Wilders to be put to death.

“Islam is a holy religion,” Shodiq Ramadan told about 50 protesters who shouted in agreement. “Those who have insulted it deserve to be sentenced to death.”

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim nation, but its government is secular and hard-line interpretations of the faith generally do not attract much support.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who relies on the support of several Islamic parties in parliament, has condemned the film and urged protesters in Indonesia - a former Dutch colony - to stay calm. (courtesy: The Jakarta Post)