Dwi Putra Kesuma, Sawangan – Opposing the presence of the Ahmadiyah religious sect, a number of people demonstrated and called for the Ahmadiyah headquarters on Jl Raya Sawangan in the Jakarta satellite city of Depok to be torn down.
One of the demonstrators, Abdul Azis, said that the action was held to express their disappointment with the Depok municipal government (Pemkot).
“We’re disappointed with the Depok Pemkot. There have been several demonstrations against Ahmadiyah but [the headquarters] has only been sealed off, there hasn’t been any follow up action”, said Azis during the demonstration on Friday January 31.
Azis said that they believe that the Depok government has failed to act firmly enough against Ahmadiyah.
“The Depok Pemkot already knows that Ahmadiyah is not acknowledged [as an official state religion] but they’re ignoring it. We hope that the Depok Pemkot will purchase the Ahmadiyah site, so we’ll be comfortable. Just tear it down, use it as a public facility or something else”, he added.
Another participant named Rudi also said that the Ahmadiyah’s activities have created considerable anxiety among local residents.
Rudi explained that the Ahmadiyah’s activates are not in accordance with Islamic teachings because they believe that there was another prophet after Muhammad, referred to as Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.
“If we question them they equivocate that he’s not a prophet, but the reality is indeed like that”, said Rudi.
“And they are spreading this faith, some members of the community have already joined, been influenced. We hope that they’re disbanded, or at the least sealed off [and the site returned] to its correct function”, he said in conclusion.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Sejumlah Orang Demo Tolak Keberadaan Ahmadiyah di Sawangan Depok, Dianggap Tak Sesuai Ajaran Islam”.]
