LOMBOK: LOCAL GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN SAYS AHMADIYAH CAN RETURN

UNCLAS SURABAYA 000020

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SUBJECT: LOMBOK: LOCAL GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN SAYS AHMADIYAH CAN RETURN
HOME, STRINGS ATTACHED

REF: 2008 SURABAYA 119 (FEW CHANGES FOR AHMADIYAH AFTER EDICT)

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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