By MALILA Harris
INDONESIA NEWS – Indonesia West Java authorities have declared that the small Islamic sects the Ahmadiyah should limit their activities in the region. The members in the sects are not allowed publicly identify themselves and asked to convert to majority Islam.
It is noted that Indonesia is a secular country and in accordance to constitution one can freely express the religious sentiments. However, in the recent turmoil among the Islamist fundamentalist, the government is forced from hardliners to prohibit the sect completely.
The province of Java is home to Indonesia’s largest community of Ahmadis, though as a whole they are limited not more than 200,000 in the whole country. The fundamentalist approach towards them makes them difficult to survive as a sect, forcing them to convert into mainstream Islam.
The local authorities pressurize from the hardliners want them to restrict their activities and point out their mosques and schools as a separate sect. they are also ideally given education and reintegrate themselves and converting into mainstream Islam.
Authorities have issued notice to monitor their activities and encourage other people to look after them. In a way they are now quite aloof from majority of people.
Ahmadiyah have protested the dictum and said it is against the constitutional rights. Lawyers of the sect refute by saying any force decree violates a law protecting people’s rights to worship how they choose.
Nevertheless, hardliners say the government has taken the right decision and it is according to law, blaming the sect to deviate from the tenets of Islam, and therefore infringe the rule of blasphemy. It is reported that hardliners have repeatedly asked the government to ban completely the sect.
The Ahmadis have already in the back seat since a recent mob killed three of them. The increasing protest against them is yet another sign that their way of life is no longer welcome in the country, which is often appreciated for its religious forbearance.
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