I wonder if the world would be a better place if there were no religion at all ?????...
''We'll wage war: Indonesian Muslim hardliners Font Size: Decrease Increase Print Page: Print Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta correspondent | June 03, 2008
INDONESIAN Muslim hardliners last night threatened to wage war on the controversial Islamic sect Ahmadiyah unless President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono bans it within three days.
The ultimatum came a day after Islamist thugs with bamboo poles attacked a peaceful inter-faith demonstration, and smashed car windows in a wild melee in the capital.
Dr Yudhoyono weighed into the dispute yesterday, urging police to "lift their workrate" after they reportedly allowed the assault, in the normally calm Freedom Square, to go ahead.
The gathering, to mark the anniversary on Sunday of the adoption of Indonesia's Pancasila ideology which, ironically enough, guarantees freedom of religious worship, was set on by members of the Islamic Defenders Front, a Jakarta-based association whose members include street fighters and petty criminals. Four victims of the attack remained in hospital yesterday, including a woman with serious head injuries.
Islamic Defenders Front members said they attacked the gathering, billed as the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion, because it supported the allegedly "deviant" Ahmadiyah. Members of the secretive group Hizb ut-Tahrir, banned in much of the Middle East and which advocates Islamic rule, are believed to have been among the attackers.
Islamic Defenders Front leader Habib Rizieq justified the onslaught during an emotional press conference yesterday, threatening "war" unless Dr Yudhoyono banned Ahmadiyah. The President has been stalling over acting on a recommendation from a government advisory body that the sect, which does not hold to the central Muslim tenet of recognising Mohammed as the last prophet, should be outlawed.
While Indonesia's Pancasila, or "five pillars", philosophy guarantees freedom of worship, a separate law defines six faiths that have the legal status of religion. These are Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.
An almost hysterical Mr Rizieq yesterday called on his followers "to prepare for war with Ahmadiyah and its followers" unless a ban was enacted.
"We will not accept a single of our members being arrested ... we will resist until the last drop of blood," he said.
Ahmadiyah members in West Java and Lombok have long been the target of hate attacks and mosque-burnings, and a small group recently approached the Australian consulate in Bali seeking information on gaining political asylum.
There were counter-calls yesterday for Mr Rizieq's group to be banned, although Justice and Human Rights Minister Andi Mattalatta speculated that such a move would be impossible since "it has no legal status ... what could be barred if it has no legal status?" The comments mirror recent controversy over the problem of violent Islamist group Jemaah Islamiah, which also has no legal status and therefore cannot be banned despite a court ruling declaring it a "forbidden organisation".
The two organisations are closely linked with JI spiritual head Abu Bakar Bashir, who leads the Islamic Defenders Front in his heartland city of Surakarta in Central Java.
Lawyer Achmad Michdan, who is representing the three death-row Bali bombers Ali Imron, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra, stood alongside Mr Rizieq yesterday and warned he would lodge a civil suit against the President if he failed to act on Ahmadiyah "within three days".
Islamic Defenders Front gangs have been responsible for attacks in Jakarta on what they call kaffir (infidel) activities, including nightclubs that operate during the holy month of Ramadan.
Indonesia's two main Muslim organisations, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, were quick to condemn the weekend attacks, with Muhammadiyah leader Din Syamsuddin calling them "a crime that must be prosecuted".
