We do support East Java governor`s decision about the Ahmadiyah ban
Bandung, W Java, March 3 (ANTARA News) - The West Java provincial government will announce a regulation banning the Ahmadiyah religious sect here Thursday.

"The governor`s regulation on the Ahmadiyah was signed and all related authorities have also discussed its main point," the provincial government`s spokesman, Ruddy Gandakusumah, said.

The provincial government`s regulation on the Ahmadiyah ban would have officially been announced at Bandung city`s historic Satay or Pakuan building on Thursday morning, he said.

With the issuance of this regulation, all activities related to Ahmadiyah religious sect would be outlawed and banned in West Java, he said.

The policy on banning Ahmadiyah was issued after governor, vice governor, West Java provincial legislative body`s speaker, top police and military chiefs and other related stakeholders in the province held a closed door meeting on Wednesday, he said.

The calls for banning the Ahmadiyah sect`s teachings in Indonesia have repeatedly and consistently been echoed by various elements of Muslim society members in the country over the past few weeks.

On March 1, for instance, hundreds of Muslims, including those of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI)staged a rally to demand the banning of the Ahmadiyah religious sect`s teachings in Indonesia.

FPI Chairman Habib Salim Alatas said the rally had nothing to do with politicization but was purely meant to show the Indonesian Muslim community`s aspiration over the Ahmadiyah problem.

In solving this problem, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was asked to issue a decree banning Ahmadiyah, he said.

"At the moment, we have got the inter-ministerial decree but we insist that a presidential decree of the Ahmadiyah sect be also available," he said.

Besides that, he also called on Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo to issue regulations about the dissolution of Ahmadiyah sect`s activities in the province`s areas.

"We do support East Java governor`s decision about the Ahmadiyah ban," he said.

On February 18, a number of Islamic organizations and the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) in Banten had also asked the government to ban the Ahmadiyah sect in the province soon.

"Before the Cikeusik incident on February 6, the MUI had actually urged the provincial government to ban all the activities of the Ahmadiyah sect," MUI-Banten chapter`s chairman KH Aminudin Ibrahim said.

MUI, Nahdlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah, and Religious Followers` Harmony Forum (FKUB) in Banten Province had agreed to again call on the provincial government to ban all activities of the Ahmadiyah, he said.

A series of attacks on Ahmadiyah religious sect followers and their properties have occurred in some parts of Indonesia over the past two years.

The latest incident happened in Umbulan village Cikeusik subdistrict, Pandeglang district, Banten province, on February 6, killing three people.

In response to the latest incident, Former Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the cases of sectarian violence could be handled if firm law enforcement was implemented to the perpetrators.

"Don`t let the perpetrators be untouched by the law. If it is so, there will be a feeling that if we kill or destroy properties in a mass, we think that the law cannot do anything," he said.
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Editor: AA Ariwibowo
Copyright © ANTARA 2011