On Monday, April 16, several intergovernmental agencies led by junior attorney general Wisnu Subroto issued a statement declaring Ahmadiyah a heretical sect and recommending its immediate ban.

The Agency for the Monitoring of Religious Sects and Mystical Beliefs (Bakor Pakem) said that Ahmadiyah should be banned because it violated its 12 premises. Bakor Pakem sent the recommendation to the Home Affairs Ministry, Religious Affairs Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office and urged them to issue a joint governmental decree to ban Ahmadiyah.

The government then promised to immediately issue the decree but had not done so by Sunday, May 5. The movement to ban Ahmadiyah has been driven by several hard-line Muslim groups, including the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) and some officials within the Religious Affairs Ministry, and therefore it is only natural that they would be disappointed over the delay. They are expected to increase violent acts against Ahmadiyah.

For this reason, the Ahmadiyah have again become the main topic of this latest monthly report.  Violence against sect members continues as the officials discuss the joint decree, and the police and the courts stand idly by. 

Besides the Ahmadiyah issue, this month we also highlight the police’s killing of Madi, a local religious figure who MUI earlier accused of heresy. There are many issues surrounding Madi’s death, including questionable behavior of security forces and the biased coverage against the leader by the local media.

Another development we examine is the warning from the National Broadcasting Commission (KPI) to television networks against airing TV programs that insult faiths or disturb prayer times. Although this is not a new warning, we regard it as interesting because the KPI is basing its policy on a religious – read Muslim -- argument.

The four-year jail term recently imposed on Musaddeq, the head of the al-Qiyadah al-Islamiyah sect, is also included in this report. Musaddeq has been convicted by the South Jakarta District Court of insulting the Muslim faith, which according to the judges was against Article 156a of the Criminal Code. We also look at a clash between a militant Islamic group, the Islamic Paramilitary Force (LUIS) in Surakarta and local residents – violence which claimed a man’s life. This case was given little airing in the national media. It shows how some hard-line Islamic groups use violence to address problems. 

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