"Apart from being vulnerable to trigger people`s anger, Ahmadiyah`s existence in this country can also invite people to use opportunists to use this issue to serve their own interest," Hasyim said here on Sunday.
According to Hasyim Ahmadiyah only had a few followers but its existence in Indonesia had received a major spotlight from the public because of intervention from the opportunists.
"Muslim brothers would not be very angry had Ahmadiyah did not declare themselves as part of Islam," said Hasyim adding that Muslim in Indonesia strongly opposed Ahmadiyah because the sect`s teachings were opposed to the holy verses of the Quran.
Hasyim added that those who supported Ahmadiyah were only members of the Liberal Islam Network (JIL) and some NGOs on the behalf of human rights while people from other religious beliefs such as Catholics and Christians chose not to comment on the issue.
"In the case of Romo Benny Susetyo who defended Ahmadiyah, he did that under the name of Setara Foundation rather than as as a catholic," Hasyim added.
Hasyim also suggested the regional government to act firmly against the Ahmadiyah sect.
Earlier, Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam warned certain religious leaders not to use the Ahmadiyah sect as a wild card for politicizing the country`s current situation.
"Don`t politicize and worsen the current situation (by using the problem of Ahmadiyah religious sect) because it can potentially create communal conflicts," he told newsmen here Sunday.
Commenting on the call of Muhammadiyah`s leader, Din Syamsuddin, for the government to ban the Ahmadiyah sect, he said religious leaders need to help maintain peace and tolerance in the society.
Those religious leaders should not instigate tensions that could harm the spirit of tolerance among religious followers, he said.
Asked about Din Syamsuddin`s call for the central government to show its stance on a number of provincial and district governments` policies on banning the teachings of Ahmadiyah sect, Dipo Alam said that call was mistakenly addressed to the central government.
He argued that the central government had earlier issued an inter-ministerial decree in response to the Ahmadiyah question.
All elements in the society should consistently implement what the inter-ministerial decree had stipulated in handling the Ahmadiyah problem, he said.
In halting tensions between the backers and opponents of the Ahmadiyah sect in the society, Dipo Alam said the regional governments were responsible for that.
"They (regional governments) know their areas and are responsible for the harmonious life of their people," he said.(*)
(A051/H-NG/a014)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
