Muslim hardliners in moderate Indonesia have been emboldened by the government’s caving in to pressure to ban a minority Islamic sect, an independent think tank said in a report yesterday.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) said a decree issued last month ordering the Ahmadiyah sect to stop spreading its beliefs in a prophet after Mohammed would increase social unrest.
“One official told us that this was not about freedom of religion but about law and order — without a decree, social unrest would increase,” ICG Southeast Asia Project director John Virgoe said in a statement.
“But the prospects of unrest have in fact increased because of the way in which hardline groups have worked the issue both at the grassroots and top levels of government. Having won this victory, they’ll look for others,” Virgoe said.
The report on the factors leading to the decree found that hardline groups including Hizb ut-Tahrir were targeting the sect, which has practiced its faith peacefully in Indonesia since the 1920s, to expand support and membership.
They were using their influence with the Islamic Scholars Council (MUI), the country’s main Islamic body, to influence policy despite their minimal political support in the wider community.
Pressure from hardliners for the government to outlaw Ahmadiyah despite constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion escalated after the MUI issued a fatwa describing the sect as “deviant” earlier this year.
“The result was a decree that is a setback for both Indonesia’s image as a country that can stand up to Islamic radicalism and President [Susilo Bambang] Yudhoyono’s image as a strong leader,” the ICG report said. “The outcome suggests a government that has no clear vision of basic principles itself but rather seeks compromise between those who speak loudest.”
The ICG said Yudhoyono had allowed the MUI to have “unprecedented influence” over policy in the world’s most populous Muslim country, which has a tradition of tolerance and pluralism in keeping with its diverse religious minorities.
“The Yudhoyono government made a serious error in 2005 by inviting MUI to help shape policy,” ICG senior adviser Sidney Jones said.
“It opened the door for hardline groups to press for greater state intervention to define orthodoxy and legislate morality,” Jones said.
The ICG also said the decree ordering Indonesia’s 200,000 to 500,000 Ahmadis to stop “spreading” their faith was related to “political maneuvering” ahead of national elections next year.
The decree fell short of the total ban sought by extremists but resulted in the voluntary closure of Ahmadi mosques across the country.
Ahmadis say they have been forced underground and fear attack by extremists who declared war on the sect and violently attacked a rally for religious tolerance in Jakarta on June 1.
Trinidad and Tobago declared a new state of emergency on Friday after authorities accused a criminal network operating in prisons across the country of plotting to kill key government officials and attack public institutions. It is the second state of emergency to be declared in the twin-island republic in a matter of months. In December last year, authorities took similar action, citing concerns about gang violence. That state of emergency lasted until mid-April. Police said that smuggled cellphones enabled those involved in the plot to exchange encrypted messages. Months of intelligence gathering led investigators to believe the targets included senior police officers,
FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is to meet US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally would secure a more favorable trade deal before the deadline on Friday next week. Marcos would be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China. “I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also
RSS