Aljazeera.Net, Sunday 09 October 2005 9:25 AM GMT
Religious turbulence hits Indonesia
by Marianne Kearney in Jakarta, Indonesia
[PHOTO: The attacks have been a blot on Indonesia's religious tolerance.]
A spate of recent church closures and attacks on the compound of a sect has
highlighted a debate raging within the Indonesian Muslim community over religious
freedom and tolerance.
On 21 September, hundreds of young men attacked the compound of a small Muslim
sect, the Ahmadiyah, vandalising four mosques, torching over 30 houses and
damaging several cars in the hillside town of Cianjur, West Java, 100km southwest of
the capital Jakarta.
The compound attack was the latest outbreak of violence in a year that has seen
more than 30 churches forcibly closed down or blockaded by Muslim mobs armed
with bamboo spears, often while police stood by.
The attacks have brought the issue of religious tolerance to the fore.
Within the Indonesian Muslim community, which accounts for about 88% of the
242-million population, are several movements and organisations often at loggerheads
with one another.
Moderate groups say religious freedom should be protected in one of the world's most
moderate Muslim countries, while others argue Indonesia should become an Islamic
state.
Fatwa
In late July, the Indonesian Council of Islamic Clerics (MUI) issued a series of fatwa or
religious decree giving groups lobbying for Islamic law a boost.
The most publicised fatwa declared that the Ahmadiyah sect was heretical, and MUI
members called on the government to ban it.
[PHOTO: The recent fatwas have boosted those lobbying for Islamic law.]
Other fatwa condemned religious pluralism, joint prayer sessions, and mixed religious
marriages.
But the most far-reaching fatwa with political impact was the one opposing
"liberalism" and intentionally pointing fingers at groups such as the Liberal Islamic
Network (JIL), which promotes modern interpretations of the Quran.
Within weeks, the Islamic Defenders' Front or Front Pembela Islam (FPI), a group
thought to be behind attacks on bars and nightclubs, began trying to lobby local
Muslims to expel the JIL from its home in east Jakarta.
"MUI issues the fatwas and we just carry them out," said Hilmy Bakar, a senior FPI
leader, explaining that attacks on liberal groups are valid if they have been branded
heretical.
Fatwa opposed
But JIL's head Ulil Absha Abdalla decried the fatwas as "stupid". Other religious
leaders, as well as politicians, pointed out that banning joint prayer sessions and
mixed marriages in such a religiously mixed nation was "ridiculous".
Komaruddin Hidayat, a Muslim Scholar at Jakarta's Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic
University, dismissed the MUI fatwa as just a publicity ploy which was unlikely to be
heeded by most Indonesians.
[TEXT: "It's just a business among hardliners - promoting the the escalation of tension
among religions" - Komaruddin Hidayat, a Muslim scholar.]
"It's just a business among hardliners - promoting the escalation of tension among
religions," he said.
However, Muslim analysts argue that by trying to ban religious pluralism and insisting
that Islam is Indonesia's official religion, the MUI is in effect attempting to move the
country a step closer to introducing Sharia or Islamic law.
Constitutional clash
Clerics from Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation, Nahdlatul Ulema (NU), stress
that Muslims cannot follow such a fatwa without violating the Indonesian constitution,
which protects religious pluralism.
Given that such a fatwa is only an opinion and not legally binding for Muslims, the
constitution is more powerful, argue NU scholars.
And such fatwa cannot be implemented unless parliament agrees to amend the
constitution, they say.
Indonesia's two largest Muslim groups, NU and Muhammidiyah, together claiming 65
million followers, have always opposed Islamic law, and most analysts doubt the push
for Sharia law will get much support.
They also point out that the major political parties have in the past opposed the
introduction of Islamic law, when it was proposed by smaller parties.
Increasing conservatism
But moderate Muslim groups see the recent intimidation of Christian churches and
Ahmadiyah as part of the same trend to promote a much more conservative
interpretation of Islam.
Local reports suggest that students from a Muslim boarding school were inspired by
the MUI fatwas to attack the Ahmadiyah compound in Cianjur last week.
[PHOTO: Susilo Bambang's government is accused of complacency.]
The 19 September attack was the second major attack on the sect in as many
months. In July, several Ahmadiyah mosques and compounds in towns around west
Java were vandalised and a handful of local councils have banned the sect.
Numbering just over 300,000, Ahmadiyah believes that its Indian founder Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad, not Muhammad, was the last prophet.
It is this belief that prompted the Islamic Clerics Council to label Ahmadiyah as
heretical.
Religious freedom
Nahdlatul Ulema also thinks that Ahmadiyah is a deviant sect, but it is publicly
defending the group's right to practise its religion freely.
"We have asked police to take steps so there is no more destruction. NU doesn't
support the destruction of places of worship," says senior NU leader Achmad Bagda.
"If people don't agree with Ahmadiyah, they don't have to follow it," he added.
The Liberal Islamic Network has offered legal assistance to Ahmadiyah and will also
organise an investigation into the attacks.
The pressure from Muslim moderates appears to have worked. Unlike the last attacks
on Ahmadiyah property, police appear serious about prosecuting the attackers this
time, arresting 12 suspects.
Intimidating Christians
NU has also been lobbying police and local governments to stop Muslims from
intimidating Christian groups.
Over the past year, more than 30 churches have been closed down under pressure
from Muslim groups.
"We said to police don't allow this (church closures) to be used to instigate chaos
among the community," said Sofyan Yahya, the head of NU's West Java chapter.
[PHOTO: The FPI believes Indonesia should become an Islamic state.]
Conservative groups deny they are trying to spark an inter-religious conflict, claiming
they are just upholding Indonesian law.
"Those closed were not churches, but private houses, used by Christians as prayer
places without a government permit," said Habib Rizieq Shihab, the head of the
Islamic Defenders' Front, which, along with the Anti-Apostasy Movement, has been
accused of organising the closures.
Using shops
Christian ministers admit they have been forced to use shops and homes as
churches, because under Indonesian law religious groups have to get permission from
both the Religious Affairs Ministry and the neighbouring community before they can
build a place of worship.
Some Protestant communities say they have been lobbying their local community for
over a decade and still have not received permission to build a church.
The bylaw which in effect allows a single Muslim to oppose the construction of a
church is biased against minorities, church leaders say.
"That is the weakness of our government now. They are not able yet to give freedom
to people as it was instructed by the constitution," says Richard Daulay, the
secretary-general of the Indonesian Communion of Churches.
Pressing the government
The Indonesian government says it will revise the bylaw so that a joint religious
council, and not local residents, will have the authority to approve the construction of
churches and other religious buildings.
But the Liberal Islamic Network, along with NU and Muhammidiyah, says it is not
enough to change the law. They argue violent groups should be prosecuted for trying
to take the law into their own hands, otherwise they will continue to intimidate
minorities in the name of Islam.
"They say they do this in the name of religion, but all religions reject it," said
Mahmadah.
Others see the attacks on churches as an attack against Indonesia's religious
tolerance.
"This threatens our principle of unity in diversity," said Achmad Bagda, a senior NU
leader, quoting a line from the Indonesian constitution.
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