Islamic Tolerance in Indonesia

An islamic sect, Ahmadiyah, was banned by the government because it does not believe that muhammed was the last islamic prophet. That's a 'moderate' muslim country for you. Herald Tribune

Nearly a hundred police officers guarded the road leading to this quiet, well-kept village in West Java on Tuesday, to protect residents from possible attacks by hard-line Muslims.

More than 70 percent of the village's 4,000 people are members of Ahmadiyah, a Muslim sect that fundamentalists have denounced as heretical. At least three times before, villagers had come under attack, and on Tuesday, a day after Indonesia's government issued a decree calling on Ahmadiyah members to cease practicing their faith or face arrest, rumors swept through Manis Lor and surrounding towns that hard-line Muslim groups were planning protests, demonstrations or possibly an assault.

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Moderates in this country, which is overwhelmingly Muslim but guarantees religious freedom, argued that Ahmadiyah should be left alone. The hard-liners, many of whom are campaigning to turn Indonesia into an Islamic state, were pressing for an all-out ban and dissolution of Ahmadiyah.

Only a couple of paragraphs before the author of the article stated that a little muslim sect was banned. So what kind of religious freedom is this?

The issue has now gripped Indonesia. Television news stations play continuous footage of extremists beating people at that rally with sticks and screaming into cameras their demands that Ahmadiyah be banned or face more attacks. The word "jihad" has been repeatedly invoked. Prominent members of both moderate and extremist Muslim groups have joined the debate over the constitutional issues.

Human rights advocates accuse the president of giving in to a vocal but extreme minority. Lawyers for the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation said they planned to file a lawsuit on behalf of Ahmadiyah. Meanwhile, the Islamic Lawyer's Organization is preparing a defense of the group responsible for the June 1 attack.

In Manis Lor on Tuesday, while the Ahmadiyah members braced for trouble, life otherwise continued as usual. The government decree had come as no surprise.

Members had already turned to praying privately in their homes since December, when hard-line Muslims burned several of their mosques and razed a handful of their houses.