Bangka’s Ahmadiyah followers evicted

Women and children of the Ahmadiyya religious sect in a district in Bangka regency, Bangka Belitung province, were evacuated on Friday evening to save them from the wrath of local residents.

The evacuation was made after negotiations between Ahmadiyah leaders, local ulemas, the military, the police and the local administration failed to reach an agreement.

“Under police and military escort, they were moved to another place in the regency due to security concerns,” Jamaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia (JAI) congregation spokesman Yendra Budiana said.

Yendra said some male members remained at JAI’s office in Srimenanti village, Sungailiat district.

Six Ahmadiyah families live in the district and 17 Ahmadiyah families live in the regency.

At noon, hundreds of residents stood outside the office of the Ahmadiyah, which was used as a meeting place for a mediated discussion led by Bangka Military Command chief Let. Col. Utten Simbolon.

Utten said the local ulemas and administration leaders had offered the Ahmadiyah four options, two of which included leaving their faith or moving to another area.

“They asked for the options to be written out so they could also reply in written form,” he said.

In response to the demands, Ahmadiyah legal advisor Fitria Sumarni said the Ahmadiyah was a legal religious organization listed in Indonesia and one that upheld the principle of peace.

The Jakarta-based Setara Institute has asked the central government to intervene to prevent the eviction of the Ahmadiyah in Bangka regency, accusing Bangka Regent Tarmizi as one of the main instigators of the expulsion.

Bonar Tigor Naipospos, the institute’s deputy chairman, said the planned eviction had been objected to by Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo but Tjahjo’s objections were ignored by Tarmizi.

“Tarmizi’s opposition to the home ministry is essentially opposition to the President,” said Bonar in statement on Friday.

Earlier, the New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a statement urging the Indonesian government to immediately intervene to protect members of the Ahmadiyah from intimidation and threats of expulsion.

The Ahmadiyah have been under threat since June 2008 when the government of then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed a decree ordering the Ahmadiyah community to “stop spreading interpretations and activities that deviate from the principal teachings of Islam”. Those who violate the decree can face up to five years in prison. Following the decree, militant Islamists launched several violent attacks on Ahmadiyah followers including an attack in Cikeusik in February 2011 in which three Ahmadis were killed.

We are using cookies to give you the best experience. You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in privacy settings.
AcceptPrivacy Settings

GDPR

This Cookie Policy explains how Ahmadiyya Muslim Association UK (AMA UK)  Limited (“company”, “we”, “us”, and “ours”) use cookies and similar technologies to recognize you when you visit our websites, including without limitation www.ahmadiyyauk.org and its mobile or localized versions and related domains / sub-domains (“Websites”) and/or our mobile application (“App”). It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control our use of them.

What are cookies?

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website or mobile application. Cookies are then sent back to the originating site on each subsequent visit, or to another site that recognizes that cookies. You can find out more information about cookies at www.allaboutcookies.org.

Cookies are widely used in order to make sites work or to work more efficiently.

We use cookies to enhance the online experience of our visitors (for example, by remembering your visits and/or page preferences) and to better understand how our site is used. Cookies may tell us, for example, whether you have visited our site before or whether you are a new visitor.

Cookies can remain on your computer or mobile device for different periods of time. Some cookies are ‘session cookies’, meaning that they exist only while your browser is open. These are deleted automatically once you close your browser. Other cookies are ‘permanent cookies,’ meaning that they survive after your browser is closed. They can be used by the site to recognize your computer or mobile device when you open your browser and browse the Internet again.

Why do we use cookies?

We use cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Websites and/or App to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” or “strictly necessary” cookies. Other cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our Websites and/or App. Third parties serve cookies through our Websites and/or App for analytics and other purposes such as Google Analytics. In particular, we use forms related cookies which when you submit data through a form such as those found on contact pages or comment forms cookies may be set to remember your user details for future correspondence.

How can you control cookies?

You have the right to choose whether or not to accept cookies and we have explained how you can exercise this right below. However, please note that if you do not accept our cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of our site.

You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser-to-browser, you should visit your browser’s help menu for more information.

How often will we update this Cookie Policy?

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. Please, therefore, re-visit this Cookie Policy regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies.