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July 24, 2006

Indonesia: Islamic Sect Members May Seek Australian Asylum

The sect known as Ahmadiyya is called in Indonesia by the title "Ahmadiyah". The sect is Muslim, and there are 200,000 adherents of this faith in Indonesia. The group derives its spiritual direction and code of conduct to Hadrhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who founded the Ahmadiyya or Ahmadi sect in India in 1898. What sets this sect apart from others is its belief that their founder was a "prophet" and also their vow to "harm no-one". Around the world members of this sect are persecuted by more orthodox Muslims who see the group as heretics, and who themselves do not vow to "harm no-one".

As we reported in April, a community of Ahmadiyah were attacked on the island of Lombok, in Nusa Tenggara Barat in February. Their homes had been burned down, and more than a hundred refugees fled to the comparative safety of Mataram. The community then said that they wished to seek asylum in Canada and Australia.

Today, Reuters reports that 187 of these refugees from Lombok may be officially petitioning for asylum in Australia.

Members of the sect met the Australian consul on the neighbouring island of Bali today to argue their case. Samsir Ali, an adviser to the group, noted that a local decree or fatwa had outlawed the group. He said to reporters: "Because in our country alone, it is not secure and we don't have legal protection, there is no other way.....The West Lombok government has interfered in our faith and way of life."

The problems of the Ahmadiyah became critical last year, as we observed in our special report on the rise of Islamism in Indonesia. On 27 July last year, the Indonesia Council of Ulemas issued a fatwa, which declared that the Ahmadiyah followed an unlawful illegitimate religion.

There followed physical attacks upon the sect in Indonesia, such as the incident on September 20 where a mob of 1,000 people attacked the local Ahmadiyyah community at Sukadana in West Java, damaging more than 70 homes and six mosques.

Matters for the sect were exacerbated by a decree made by Indonesia's Religious Affairs Minister, Maftuh Basyuni (pictured) who declared in March that the Ahmadiyah in the country should stop calling themselves Muslims and announce that they follow a new religion. "If they refuse to do so, they should return to Islam by renouncing their beliefs," he said.

One of the refugees from Lombok said of Maftuh's decree: "It's ridiculous to suggest that we form a new religion. We are Muslims who pray five times a day, fast during Ramadan, and believe in the same Quran."

In April an alliance of Muslim moderates, lawyers and others denounced Maftuh's statement, and demanded that he apologise.

The Religious Affairs minister refused to offer any apology, so, as we reported on May 25 the Alliance For the Freedom of Religion and Faith reported the minister to the police for "insulting and slandering ... the members of the Ahmadiyah community."

Reuters notes that an asylum request would be "sensitive". In March, the Canberra-based government in Australia granted temporary visas to 42 asylum seekers from Papua, who declared that Indonesia was committing genocide in their homeland.

The issue led to cartoons appearing in the press of both nations, with the two countries' leaders portrayed as copulating dogs. Which dog was on top depended on the country where the cartoon appeared.

Diplomatic relations soured. But the Papuans are right. Indonesia was bizarrely granted Papua in 1969 by the United Nations, with no international consultation, and since that time it has systematically slaughtered individuals, plundered the region's natural resources, and deliberately imported Muslims from other locations, such as Flores and others in a process called "transmigration". This policy deliberately outnumbers the local inhabitants of Papua, who have lived for 9,000 years on that land, and denies them political rights.

Similarly, the actions of the religious affairs minister in Indonesia, and the refusal on the part of the government to condemn the MUI fatwa against the Ahmadiyah have created the current situation.

Of all Muslim sects, the Ahmadiyah are the least likely to bring trouble to Australia through acts of terror or bigotry. Unlike some of the individuals Australia has previously allowed to stay. This is about justice for a persecuted minority, not about appeasing a "failed state" such as Indonesia, which has no political will to enforce protection for its minorities. If Australia does not grant these 187 individuals asylum, it should be severely condemned.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 24, 2006 10:10 AM

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