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Indonesian President Says Ahmadiyah Officially Banned

Detikcom, via BBC Monitoring, Indonesia
Aug. 17, 2005
www.monitor.bbc.co.uk

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Friday August 19, 2005

Excerpt from report by Indonesian Detikcom website on 16 August

Jakarta – It’s been a little while since Ahmadiyah activities in Indonesia have been raised but finally President SBY [Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono] has spoken. He has stressed that the government had officially issued a ban on their activities through the office of the attorney general.

“A ban on Ahmadiyah activities has already been declared by the MUI (Council of Indonesian Ulama) and at attorney-general level. However, clearly, there are still many pockets of Ahmadiyah followers in the regions,” said SBY.

SBY said this in response to a question from a teacher who was one of the invitees at an informal function hosting a gathering of honoured citizens at the state palace in Jakarta on Tuesday (16 August 2005).

The president continued that the Ahmadiyah sect was widespread in many countries and it was headquartered in Pakistan. In Indonesia, there were two types of Ahmadiyah followers, namely the Lahore and the Qadiani Ahmadis.

He said that the latter sect was eventually banned because its followers acknowledged Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the Promised Messiah after the Holy Prophet Muhammad. “This is the problem because it is at odds with Islamic teachings,” said SBY.

With regard to the violent closure of the Ahmadiyah headquarters in Parung, SBY said he had personally requested that MUI send him a detailed explanation about the Ahmadiyah sect. “However, in resolving the issue, do not take the law into your own hands,” he said firmly. [passage omitted]