Rights Group Urges Govt to Protect Ahmadis in Bangka

Jakarta. A rights group has urged the Indonesian government to take firm action against local authorities in the Bangka district of Bangka-Belitung Islands province to stop the expulsion of the Ahmadiyah religious minority, and to protect its members.

The local government on Bangka Island is currently expelling members of the community, after it issued a Jan. 5 letter demanding that they either convert to Sunni Islam or face expulsion.

The central government, which has the authority to prevent this action, has done nothing, and it is “deplorable,” Rafendi Djamin, executive director of Human Rights Working Group Indonesia (HRWG), said in a statement released on Friday (05/02). “If the central government doesn’t intervene, we will always be trapped in this kind of situation.”

The Bangka government’s act is “a pure violation” of freedom of religion and belief, Rafendi added, citing the 1999 Human Rights Law and the Constitution.

M. Choirul Anam, deputy director of HRWG, said the Bangka government’s expulsion of the Ahmadiyah community, consisting of only 14 families, is a form of “disobedience” to the central government.

“Regional autonomy cannot be the reason for the local government to discriminate,” he said. “Besides, authority over religious affairs is excluded from this autonomy.”

The persecution of Ahmadis increased in 2001, when some local residents of East Lombok subdistrict in West Nusa Tenggara declared the Ahmadiyah belief as a heresy. The members of the religious minority were banned from obtaining an education, and some have become internally displaced since they have been expelled from their homes. Around 30 Ahmadiyah families are still living in a government sanctuary in West Nusa Tenggara.

In 2011, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan banned the Ahmadiyah in Tasikmalaya from praying in their own mosque. Similar rules were subsequently imposed in other provinces, including East Java.

The threats and violence against the Ahmadiyah community were legalized in June 2008, when the government of former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed a decree ordering the community to “stop spreading interpretations and activities that deviate from the principal teachings of Islam.”

Anyone guilty of violating the decree can be jailed for up to five years.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/02/06/bangka-s-ahmadiyah-followers-evicted.html

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.