Indonesian hardline Muslims rally against "deviant" minority sect

Aug 4, 2008, 7:08 GMT

Jakarta - Hundreds of white-clad Indonesian Muslims rallied Monday outside the presidential palace in Jakarta, demanding the government immediately outlaw a minority Islamic sect branded by the country's top clerics as 'heretical.'

Organized by the Islamic Forum of Ummat (FUI) - a broad coalition of fundamentalist Islamic groups in Indonesia - the protestors chanted slogans, shouted 'Allahu Akbar,' ('God is Great') and unfurling banners denouncing the Ahmadiyah sect.

'It's time now to disband Ahmadiyah,' said a huge banner unfurled by activists from Muslim hardline group the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI), known for its frequent vandalism, including attacks on bars and nightclubs during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, accused by Western countries of being the spiritual leader of the regional al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, told the crowd that the sect posed a danger.

'Ahmadiyah is the enemy of Islam. They are the infidels that have been trying to destroy Islam, not using violence but through their deviant principles,' shouted Ba'asyir, as hundreds of anti-riot police stood guard, backed by a water cannon.

Ba'asyir insisted that the Ahmadiyah sect 'must be dissolved.'

A brief scuffle took place between police officers and protestors when the protestors tried to force their way inside the presidential palace's compound, witnesses said.

A similar protest call to outlaw the Ahmadiyah sect took place in the East Java capital of Surabaya, the latest in a series of rallies, demanding the minority sect be banned.

Islamic fundamentalists and some Muslim leaders have branded the Ahmadiyah sect, which leaders claim has about 500,000 followers in Indonesia, 'deviant' and 'blasphemous' because it disputes the central Islamic concept that Mohammed was the final prophet.

Over the past several months violence against followers of Ahmadiyah has increased in Indonesia, where several Ahmadiyah mosques have been attacked or burned.

In a bid to pacify the militants, the government on June 9 issued a decree ordering the minority sect's followers to stop spreading its teachings and return to mainstream Islam or face five years imprisonment and the disbanding of the group.

A week before the restriction was issued, a crowd of moderate Muslims and interfaith leaders was attacked by fanatic activists during a march for religious tolerance in the capital Jakarta, injuring dozens.

Human rights groups and civil liberty activists denounced the government decree, arguing it was a violation of the country's constitution and encouraged Ahmadiyah to file a judicial review.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group said the decree 'increases the likelihood of religious vigilantism,' since government officials urged the public to act as a 'watchdog' to ensure the decree is enforced.

Mainstream Muslims reject Ahmadiyah's claim of the prophethood of its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who died in 1908 in India. Most Muslims believe Mohammed was the last of the prophets.

Indonesia is home to the world's largest Muslim population with nearly 88 per cent of its 225 million people embracing the faith. The country has a long history of religious tolerance.