Al-Qiyadah sect likely to be banned across RI

Jakarta, NU Online
A working meeting of the Coordinating Agency for the Supervision of Religious Faiths and Sects has recommended that the government ban the al-Qiyadah al-Islamiyah sect nationwide, an official at the Attorney General's Office said Wednesday.

"Attorney General Hendarman Supandji will soon issue a ruling that will officially prohibit the sect's existence and the spreading of the sect's teachings throughout the country," Junior Attorney General for Intelligence Wisnu Subroto told a media conference after attending the agency working meeting held at the office.<>

Wisnu said once the ruling was issued, any al-Qiyadah followers attempting to spread the sect's teachings would be charged with religious blasphemy as stated in the Criminal Code, a violation of which could result in a maximum jail sentence of five years.

The agency working meeting, which was presided over by Wisnu, was attended by representatives from the Home Ministry, the National Intelligence Agency, the National Police, the Culture and Tourism Ministry, the Indonesian Military, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and the Attorney General's Office.

The agency, officially chaired by the attorney general, was established to implement a 1965 presidential decree that allows prosecutors, on behalf of the government, to ban religious organizations that distort or misrepresent the teachings of existing religions.

Wisnu said the agency's meeting has adopted the 10 criteria for "misguided" Islamic sects issued by the MUI on Tuesday, to determine al-Qiyadah's status.

The council said that among the indications a sect was "misguided" was that it defied one of the Islamic six pillars of faith and believed or followed teachings that are not in line with the Koran and Sunnah as the source of Islamic teachings, and denied that Muhammad was the last prophet.

The prohibition of al-Qiyadah was one of four recommendations made by the agency to the government in order to prevent the establishment of any more sects in the future.

The other three were: a recommendation that the MUI continue conducting research to uncover other potential misguided sects; a recommendation to the Religious Affairs Minister to encourage religious-based organizations to improve religious teaching methodologies; and the last was to ask the people to not break any law related to these matters.

The head of MUI's Research Division, Utang Ranuwiharja, said the council was still studying other religious organizations similar to the al-Qiyadah al-Islamiyah sect.

Among the organizations studied were the Holy Koran sect in Bandung, West Java, and the Wahidiyah sect in Tasikmalaya, also in West Java.

The council had earlier issued an edict that banned al-Qiyadah's teachings after it found out that the sect altered Islam's core teachings. The Jakarta Provincial Prosecutor's Office has pioneered the use of the MUI's edict to ban the sect's existence in the capital.

The moves by the MUI and the Jakarta Provincial Prosecutor's Office drew strong protests from a coalition of NGOs last week. They demanded the prosecutor's office ignore the council's edict, saying that it had no place in the country's legal system.

Coalition representative Uli Parulian Sihombing said he expected the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office to conduct and facilitate a dialog between al-Qiyadah and Muslim organizations offended by its existence. (jp/dar)