islamic political parties and socio-religious organisations 27
communities. The point of departure is the killing of three members of
Ahmadiyah by an angry crowd of between 1,000 and 1,500 people on
6 February 2011 in West Java. What happened is one of the instances
in which Muslims, stressing that Ahmadiyah is a deviant sect and that
Ahmadis should not live in their midst, resort to violence. In this case
the target was a house in the village of Umbulan in Cikeusik inhabited by
an Ahmadiyah family. To avoid violence the previous day the police who
had been alerted by an sms message to the possibility of mob violence
had persuaded the family in question to leave the village, but failed to
convince 17 Ahmadiyah members who had arrived in Umbulan in the
morning of the 6th to stand by their fellow believers to do the same.
When the attack came three of them were killed and five were seriously
wounded. The police did not interfere. It was one of the instances in
which the police said they had felt overpowered. Fear for their own
safety and wellbeing when police officers are confronted with an angry
crowd at times makes them decide not to act. In February 2013, even
the Indonesian National Police used being outnumbered as an excuse
to explain the failure to protect members of religious minorities when
attacked by crowds of radical Muslims. Its spokesman, commenting on a
Human Rights’ Watch report criticising the reluctance to act resolutely
when Ahmadis and Shiʾits were molested, said that when police officers
were ‘outnumbered by a mob, an omission could happen’ in enforcing the
law.⁵ Gruesome as the Cikeusik incident was, the follow-up created even
greater controversy. Twelve attackers were prosecuted and sentenced
to a mere three to six months in jail. A six-month prison sentence was
also received by one of the Ahmadiyah followers, who had travelled to
Umbulan and himself had been seriously wounded. He was charged
with resisting a police order to leave the village, assault, and as their
leader inciting the other members of his group. Bastiaan Scherpen’s
contribution shows how difficult it is for the Indonesian government
and for Islamic parties and organisations to deal with, on the one hand,
demands to ban the Ahmadiyah as a deviant sect, and, on the other hand,
calls in Indonesia and abroad to uphold principles of religious freedom
and human rights. It also brings to the fore that universal values can have
different meanings for different groups, be it Western governments or
Muslims, especially where religious minorities are concerned.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/02/02/national-police-play-down-report-
religious-violence.html.