Panca Nugraha, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara – While almost everybody else is welcoming Ramadhan with happiness and smiles, for 116 Ahmadis who are now living at the Transito house in Mataram, this year's Ramadhan is just another test of faith.

"Praise God that we are allowed to experience Ramadhan this year amidst our life's difficulties," Syahidin, the Ahmadis refugee coordinator, said on Wednesday.

He said since they were expelled from their village in Ketapang, West Lombok seven years ago, they had faced difficulties getting decent jobs to feed their families. The refugees have been denied access to ID cards. In the absence of ID cards, they could not get the temporary cash assistance that had been issued lately by the government as compensation for the fuel price hike.

Many of the Ahmadis' children have also been denied schooling and newborns have been unable to get birth certificates simply because their parents do not have ID cards.

Head of the Ombudsman Commission's Mataram branch Adhar Hakim said hewas aware that the refugees were facing administrative problems like the absence of ID cards and birth certificates.

"We have facilitated some children to get access to nearby schools and are still seeking information as to why many refugees can not get ID cards," he said.(dic)