Paras Indonesia, 08, 25 2005 @ 05:03 pm
FPI to Sue Gus Dur for Slander
Posted by: Roy Tupai on 08, 25 2005 @ 05:03 pm
The radical Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) is threatening to sue former president
Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid after he accused the group of forcibly closing 23
churches in the West Java capital of Bandung.
Ahmad Sobri Lubis, head of FPI's internal affairs department, on Wednesday (24/8/05)
said Gus Dur had slandered the group and tarnished its "good name".
"Gus Dur is asked to withdraw his statement and apologize to FPI. FPI did not make
the closures. That is slander and a big lie. There was no anarchy or destruction,"
Lubis was quoted as saying by detikcom online news portal.
He said the buildings in question were not actual churches, but merely houses where
unauthorized religious services were held. He said FPI and local citizens had acted to
stop the spread of "illegal churches" because they were violating a local government
regulation forbidding the conversion of private dwellings into places of worship.
"We only demanded that they return to their appropriate function. They did not have
permission from the local community. However, they continued to insist and the state
apparatus did nothing," he explained.
Lubis said the "house churches" had been opened in the center of Muslim majority
neighborhoods. "Most of them had only one or two Christians living there. Even though
there are many empty churches, they would convert [their houses] into churches."
He claimed the establishment of the unauthorized churches was part of a plot to force
Muslims to convert to Christianity. "One family was forced to convert to Christianity.
They were tortured, beaten and their Muslim veils were forcibly removed. The Bandung
community became traumatized," he said.
Gus Dur had on Tuesday demanded that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono take
action against FPI, which he said had forcibly closed 23 churches in Bandung from
September 3, 2004, to August 21, 2005.
FPI, which has often been linked to right-wing military factions, is notorious for its
attacks on religious minorities and nightlife venues.
Gus Dur warned that he would mobilize Banser, the security task force of the nation's
largest Muslim group Nahdlatul Ulama, to take action against FPI if the government
fails to stop the group from targeting churches.
Reports say about 35 churches have been forced to close in West Java since the
Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) in late July 2005 issued a fatwa forbidding religious
teachings "influenced by pluralism, liberalism and secularism". Critics say the edict
has given Muslim radicals justification to attack other faiths.
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