Members of Indonesia’s banned sect face exclusion

Since Fajar Nusantara Movement was banned by the government, adherents have become social pariahs.

Jakarta:  Suparno’s life became agony as he and thousands of other members of a banned religious sect were expelled from the Indonesian district of Mempawah in West Kalimantan earlier this year.

After several months living in refugee camps provided by the Ministry of Social Welfare, he returned to Mekarjati, his native village in Indramayu district, West Java, in April.

However villagers rejected his family after they discovered they used to belong to the Fajar Nusantara Movement, known as Gafatar, which has been banned by the government.

"The village head told us not to return to the village and move to another one," Suparno told ucanews.com.

Fortunately, his friend in Subang, another district in West Java, rescued him and gave him a portion of land for him to manage in order to support his family.

"Now I am farming, and raising ducks," he said. His wife sells toys to help make ends meet.

Another ex-Gafatar member, Parwanto from Trenggalek in East Java, is facing a similar situation.

He told ucanews.com that he has trouble getting work after local police considered his history with the sect a criminal act.

In a recommendation letter needed to apply for a driver’s position in a private company, police indicated Parwanto was a former-criminal.

"I do not know why I was declared a former-criminal," he said. “I am not a criminal. I am a victim of discrimination," said Parwanto. The 34 year old was among thousands of Gafatar members expelled from Mempawah.



Considered heretical

Founded in 2012, Gafatar, which is estimated to have 55,000 followers across Indonesia, was disbanded by the government in August 2015.

Interior Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said that the group was banned because it’s teachings and practices deviated from the principle teachings of Islam.

Five months after the group was declared outside of mainstream Islam, members in Mempawah were attacked. In February 2016, the Indonesian Ulema Council issued a fatwa against Gafatar’s members, labelling the group heretical.

Ulema Council chairman, Ma'ruf Amin, told the media that the group adheres to the teachings of Abraham Millah, who mixed the teachings of Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

However the leader of Gafatar, Mahful Muis Tumanurung, said that since they were now outside of Islam, the fatwa was irrelevant.

"The issue of beliefs and religious ideas is the right of every citizen and is protected and guaranteed by the constitution," he said.



Accept them as citizens

Father Paulus Christian Siswantoko, executive secretary of the Indonesian Bishops Conference’s Commission for Justice, Peace and Migrants, said that the government should stop the discrimination.

"They must be protected. It is the duty of the state," he said. “They are not a group of terrorists or criminals that should be rejected."

Father Siswantoko also reminds people that ex-Gafatar members include children and women. "They will lose their future," he said.

For former Gafatar members like Sutarno and Parwanto, all they want is peace and to be free from discrimination.

"I just want to start a new chapter in my life and for negative assumptions about [Gafatar] to be lost," said Sutarno.

Parwanto, who is still unemployed, agrees. "All I ask from the government is that we be allowed to live freely, without discrimination, and not to hinder us from looking for ways to live better," he said.



Stop discrimination

Yushistira Rahman Hakim, a lawyer for the banned sect, said its members continue to experience discrimination. The group’s leaders, including Tumanurung, are facing charges of blasphemy and treason.

"Many people are unable to obtain identity cards because authorities will get tough on them," Hakim said.

Usman Hamid, a well-known human rights defender, said the treatment of Gafatar shows the country has become a perpetrator of intolerance.

"This case also proves that freedom of expression in Indonesia is in decline," Hamid said

He also criticized the charges of treason and blasphemy leveled against former leaders of the sect, saying treason implies an attempt to overthrow the government by violence.

"The accusation of treason does not make sense because Gafatar does not spread hatred or hostility," he said.

Source: UCAN