This meeting was part of the Embassy`s regular engagement with government officials and representatives of religious groups, both large and small, to discuss religious freedom.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - US Ambassador Scot Marciel has hosted leaders from several Ahmadiyah and Christian congregations across West Java to discuss their views on the state religious freedom.

Several participants in the lively discussion noted that both Indonesia and the United States have long histories of religious tolerance, but recognized the challenges they both faced as they sought to protect vulnerable segments of both countries population from discrimination, according to the US Embassy here on its official web site on Tuesday.

This meeting, which was held on Monday, was part of the Embassy`s regular engagement with government officials and representatives of religious groups, both large and small, to discuss religious freedom.

In the meantime, it was reported on Monday that the only mosque of the Islamic sect Ahmadiyah in Tulungagung District, East Java, was sealed by local people and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).

The closure was to prevent escalation of religious conflicts after the incident earlier breaking the glass windows of the house of worship.

The process of sealing the mosque in the village of Gempolan in the sub-district of Pakel, went on without incident in the presence of tens of police officers assisted by the military.

Closure of the mosque had triggered conflicts earlier but this time it went on peacefully with the knowledge of local Ahmadiyah leader Ja`far, who built the mosque.

"Please don`t make a wrong report. The mosque was closed and sealed by the Ahmadiyah congregation themselves, not the local people," Abu Sofyan, the secretary of Tulungagung MUI, said.

Ja`far, a leader of Ahmadiyah in Tulungagung, was present among the local people, MUI leaders and security officers in the process of sealing the mosque.

Ja`far , himself even put up a peace of paper on the door of the mosque containing the official report of the sealing approved by the representative of the Ahmadiyah congregation and local community and religious leaders .

"This mosque was sealed by the owners by sticking the seal on the door and shut the door with a crossbar," Abu Sofyan stressed.

Gempolan village chief Lamini expressed approval for the closure of the mosque an incident which first brought about tension between the Ahmadiyah members and the mainstream Islamic community.

In West Java arlier this month, police had to face a stone throwing group of people damaging an Ahmadiyah mosque and houses in the predominantly Ahmadiyah village of Kutawaringin in Tasikmalaya district.

Tasikmalaya District police chief Adj. Sr. Comr Widjanarko said via telephone that the mobs came to the village to disperse Ahmadiyah followers performing their religious service.

" We tried to prevent them from coming closer to the place to prevent communal conflict," Widjanarko disclosed.

Widjanarko said Ahmadiyah people, however, already went home after ending their religious duty in the mosque when the mobs arrived at that place.

Ahmadiyah, an Islamic sect, has been declared a heresy and has been banned from performing religious activities in the country.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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