By Xinhua,
Jakarta : Hundreds of Muslims took to the streets Monday in Jakarta and Surabaya the capital of East Java province, demanding for the dissolution of the Ahmadiyah sect in Indonesia.
Nearly five hundreds Muslims of Islamic Forum (FUI) staged rally outside State Palace in Jakarta, asking President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to issue a decree to disband the sect.
Among the protesters was a prominent and controversial Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba’ashir who has been released from jail for conspiracy in Bali bombings in 2002.
Wearing mostly white and a little bit green color Muslim uniforms, the protesters shouted slogans to disband the sect.
Some of them carried banners saying “Issue a Decree to Dissolve Ahmadiyah.”
In a speech, Ba’ashir said that the sect was deviant from Islamic teaching.
On June 9, the government issued a decree prohibiting the Ahmadi movement from performing its activity, but did not freeze or disband it, following the controversial pressures over the existence of the sect in the country.
Separately in Surabaya of East Java province, nearly two hundreds members of Islamic Defender Front (FPI) threatened to disband the sect by themselves should the government refuse their demand, the Metro television reported.
The Ahmadi movement has faced bans and persecution in Muslim countries around the globe for its belief in another prophet after Muhammad. The sect insists it should be considered part of Islam. The movement was founded at the end of the 19th century in Pakistan where it is banned.
Over 87 percent of the Indonesia’s 240 million population are Muslims, most of them moderate. But the rest of radicals are vocal and rather militant.