Camelia Pasandaran – The Bekasi government shut down a mosque of Indonesia's beleaguered Ahmadiyah sect in Pondok Gede on Thursday, in the latest act of religious intolerance in the district.
"Last night, members of the Bekasi Public Order Agency [Satpol PP] placed an iron sheet surrounding the mosque," Iman Rahmat Rahmadijaya told the Jakarta Globe on Friday. "The government said that we kept on carrying out activities despite the fact that they had locked the entrance gate."
Bekasi Mayor Rahmat Effendi had previously said that the decision to shutdown the Ahmadiyah mosque was made to prevent future bloodshed. But Ahmadiyah officials had argued that the city only took action after Islamic hard-liners announced plans to open a branch in Pondok Gede.
On Feb. 14, the Bekasi government sealed the Al-Misbah mosque, on Jalan Pangrango Terusan, forbidding members to use the building for any activities. But as members continued to use the mosque, Satpol PP officers sealed the gate entrance on March 8, while some members were still inside, forcing them to use a ladder to climb out.
Rahmadijaya said that he did not understand why the Bekasi government had forbidden them from performing routine religious activities.
"They said that they referred to the gubernatorial regulation, Indonesian Ulema Council edict and mayor regulation that forbids Ahmadiyah, while clearly the regulations only forbid spreading Ahmadiyah teaching and no regulation prohibits activities," Rahmadijaya explained.
The 400-member Al-Misbah mosque has held regular prayers since it opened as Bekasi's first and only Ahmadiyah mosque in 1998. Rahmadijaya said the small community had a good relationship with residents in Pondok Gede for more than a decade and continued to operate without issue after the ban was put in place more than a year ago.
Rahmadijaya said that while the members of the mosque wanted to negotiate with the government, through their lawyers from the Jakarta Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta) and the Indonesian Aid Foundation (YLBHI), none of the officials present on Thursday night were willing to sit together for a discussion.
Sudiana, head of the legal division of the Bekasi government, told Beritabekasi.co that they placed the iron sheets around the mosque to force members to abide with the mayor's regulation issued in 2011 that forbid Ahmadiyah.
However, Satpol PP officers told Rahmat that they put the barrier up as they did not want any conflict between Ahmadiyah members and Islamic hard-liners.
"They're simply afraid of the FPI [Islamic Defenders Front]," Rahmadijaya said. "If they indeed wanted to uphold the regulation, they should have known that the regulation only forbids spreading Ahmadiyah teaching, and there is no regulation that stipulates placing a fence around, locking the mosque or forbidding praying. We only conducted internal preaching and educated our children, and none of the regulations were violated."
Rahmadijaya said that their team of lawyers would send the Bekasi mayor a legal notice. "We will pray at the houses of our members because there is no way we can enter the mosque," Rahmadijaya explained.
The Bekasi mayor did not respond to requests for comment by the Jakarta Globe.