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Viewing cable 09SURABAYA120, INDONESIAN BAHA'I FACE DIFFICULTIES

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09SURABAYA120 2009-12-16 10:57 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Consulate Surabaya
VZCZCXRO7574
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJS #0120 3501057
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 161057Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL SURABAYA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0506
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0496
INFO RUEHJS/AMCONSUL SURABAYA 0519
RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0194
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0226
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
UNCLAS SURABAYA 000120 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM SOCI ID
SUBJECT: INDONESIAN BAHA'I FACE DIFFICULTIES 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
1. (SBU) Summary. Recent proselytizing activities have created 
difficulties for a small Baha'i community in East Java. The 
local Council of Muslim Clerics decided not to ban the Baha'i 
because they are a distinct religion.  While Baha'i regularly 
encounter administrative difficulties due to their religion, 
there have been no reported incidents of violence.  End summary. 
 
2. (SBU) Recently, in a small village of 2,650 families in the 
Tulungagung Regency of East Java, the local Baha'i community 
drew the attention of the majority Muslim population through 
their door-to-door proselytizing activities.  This small 
community of nine families are all converts from Islam.  The 
rest of the community, who are all Muslim, mistakenly viewed the 
Baha'i religion as a deviant sect of Islam and requested the 
local Council of Muslim Clerics (MUI) to ban Baha'i activities. 
The local police asked the MUI to temporarily ban all Baha'i 
activities for fear that they would cause social disorder. 
 
3. (SBU) Abu Sofyan Firajudin, a secretary of the MUI in 
Tulungagung, said that the MUI decided not to ban the Baha'i 
religion since it is a distinct religion and not a heresy of 
Islam.  However, this view is not shared by all local MUI 
throughout the country.  Soesiana T. Ekawati, a coordinator of 
the Baha'i community in Indonesia, said that in June 2009 the 
MUI in Palopo of South Sulawesi issued a religious ruling 
declaring the Baha'i religion a heretical religion.  She said 
that this illustrates widespread confusion throughout Indonesia 
about the nature of the Baha'i religion. 
 
4. (SBU) Soesiana also said that, in general, Baha'i in 
Indonesia encounter administrative obstacles when they deal with 
the government. For example, it is often difficult to obtain ID 
cards or marriage certificates from the local village office or 
to complete school entrance forms because of the "religious 
identification" question.  A Surabaya based newspaper Surya 
reported that the secretary of Ringinpitu village rejected 
Baha'i followers' request to mention "Baha'i" in religion column 
of ID cards. Soesi stated that she kept the "religion" column 
blank when she applied for an ID card, and considered it a 
victory that she didn't have to claim another religion just to 
complete the bureaucratic process. 
 
5. (SBU) Fortunately, there have been no reported instances of 
physical violence against Baha'i in Indonesia.  Soesiana said 
that so far there has also not been any physical intimidation 
from Muslim hardliner groups like the Islam Defender Front 
(FPI).  Abu Sofyan said that although people were not happy with 
the presence of Baha'i in their community, they did not express 
their disappointment through violence.  Instead they expressed 
their concerns through the proper channel - MUI. 
 
MOBLEY