LOMBOK: LOCAL GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN SAYS AHMADIYAH CAN RETURN

UNCLAS SURABAYA 000020 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/INR, DRL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM KISL KCOR ID SUBJECT: LOMBOK: LOCAL GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN SAYS AHMADIYAH CAN RETURN HOME, STRINGS ATTACHED REF: 2008 SURABAYA 119 (FEW CHANGES FOR AHMADIYAH AFTER EDICT) This message is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Ahmadiyah refugees in Lombok's Transito Camp have received word via a local government spokesman that they can return home after nearly three years away. Members of this minority Islamic sect are determined to return despite limits that will remain on their religious practice. Always confident of support from their former neighbors, Ahmadi leaders said the sticking point has been local and provincial officials. A new governor and a recent corruption case against the Regent of West Lombok have provided a window of opportunity for their return home on March 14. End Summary ¶2. (SBU) On February 28, West Lombok Regency spokesman Basirun Anwar told local media that "the administration will facilitate the return" of Ahmadiyah. An NGO worker close to Lombok's Ahmadiyah cautioned that the authority of the spokesman's statement is in doubt since Anwar's boss, West Lombok's Regent Iskandar, is on trial for corruption. Iskandar's replacement will be installed in late March. Lombok media report that the return will be subject to a public opinion poll and the Ahmadis' full compliance with requirements that they integrate into the existing local Islamic community. Ahmadiyah spokesman Jauji told us that they will negotiate this process with fellow villagers on the ground after their return. ¶3. (SBU) Ahmadiyah leadership has long maintained that the biggest stumbling block on the road home has been government and religious leaders at the provincial level, not former neighbors. Transito's Ahmadis have been pressing NTB officials since the beginning of 2006. Jauji, spokesman and coordinator of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Ahmadiyah community, provided us with a copy of a letter sent to Governor Zainul Majdi requesting help. In late October, Lombok's Department of Religious Affairs requested that Governor Zainul Majdi meet with Transito's Ahmadis, but the Governor's office has yet to respond. Via local media, Jauji has heard that the Governor supports the Ahmadi's return, but only if Ahmadiyah abides by the joint ministerial decree which proscribes proselytizing. ¶4. (SBU) The Transito refugees have traveled frequently and freely to their former homes these past three years. They report no resistance from their former neighbors. The anti-Ahmadiyah edicts of the Muslim Clerics Council (MUI) and the local Regent have prevented their return home thus far (reftel). Political impediments to return have softened and the posture of new Governor Zainul Majdi appears neutral. Despite his background as a hereditary Islamic leader in Lombok, Governor Majdi has not taken a hard line against the Ahmadis thus far (reftel). ¶5. (SBU) If all goes as planned, Ahmadiyah's return will take place in a gap between Regents. Lombok's Ahmadis tell us that the fact of their peaceful return will lend momentum to their reintegration into Lombok society. MCCLELLAND