Kampung Anak Cucu Ahmad Dahlan di Bangkok

Menengok Masjid Jawa di Bangkok

REP | 20 April 2013 | 09:14  

Benny Rhamdani

Tidak berasa di Bangkok. Foto: benny rhamdani

Setiap kali berkunjung ke luar negeri, saya selalu mencari masjid. Begitu pula ketika bertandang ke Bangkok, Thailand. Setelah menelusuri di Internet, ternyata dari tempat saya tinggal di Lumphini, bisa mendatangi masjid Jawa hanya 10 menit dengan naik taksi. Maka Jumat dini hari, saya keluar hotel dan mencari taksi menuju Masjid Jawa. Warga Bangkok biasa menyebut masjid dengan nama hong lamat muslim atau surau.

Letak Masjid Jawa di distrik Sathorn Jalan Soi Rangnamkeang 707, Yanawa. Setelah turun dekat tangga stasiun BTS Surasak, saya berbelok ke jalan yang lebih kecil menuju kawasan perkampungan penduduk. Begitu mentok, saya belok ke kanan, masuk gang yang tak bisa dilalui mobil. Saat itulah saya mendengar syahdunya azan subuh. Pencarian mencari pun menjadi lebih mudah.

Rasanya lega ketika menemukan bangunan masjid dengan desain jawa klasik berukuran 12 x 12 meter. Seperti pada bangunan rumah jawa pada umumnya, masjid ini juga masih menggunakan saka guru (empat tiang penyangga) yang menopang atap .

Saya pun berwudlu di deretan keran yang disertai tempat duduk. Di serambi terdapat 4 pintu yang terbuat dari jeruji besi. Begitu masuk ke dalam masjid, hati saya terasa teduh. Senang rasanya berada di dalam masjid di kota yang mayoritas penduduknya bukan muslim.

Masjid Jawa di Bangkok. foto: benny rhamdani

Di bagian dalam terlihat 3 pintu kayu yang sejajar dan terapit ampat tiang kokoh kalau dipandang dari arah tempat pengimaman. Disamping pengimaman ada mimbar kayu yang dilengkapi tangga untuk jalan kotib. Sedang pada sisi kanan dan kiri terdapat dua buah jam lonceng unik yang terbuat dari kayu. Di bagian belakang terdapat sederet kopiah yang bisa dipinjam untuk shalat, juga tiga kotak amal untuk tujuan berbeda.

Setelah cukup lama menunggu jemaah, akhirnya suara qomat berkumandang. Jemaah hanya ada dua baris. Itu pun terdiri dari orang dewasa dan lima anak-anak. Tidak tampak remaja yang ikut shalat subuh. Karena saat itu adalah hari Jum’at, imam membaca surat dengan ayat sajadah, sehingga kami pun melakukan sujud tambahan di awal. Di itidal terakhir, imam pun membaca qunut.

Usai shalat, saya ditawari minum kopi oleh penjaga masjid. Tapi dengan berat hati saya menolak karena harus segera bergegas menuju ke tempat lainnya.

Kampung Jawa

Masjid jawa yang dijadikan tempat ibadah sekaligus belajar dan mengajar ilmu agama islam di bangkok,khususnya seperti bulan ramadhan seperti waktu ini selalu ramai dikunjungi, lokasinya berada di Kampung Jawa dengan ribuan penduduk dari etnik jawa yang masih punya ikatan darah atau leluhur di pulau jawa.

Menurut informasi yang saya dapatkan, setelah Raja Chulalongkorn (Rama V) mengunjungi Jawa sekitar tahun 1901 dan tertarik dengan sebuah taman di Jawa. Rama V membawa beberapa orang untuk dibuatkan taman di istananya. Dan kampung jawa yang sekarang dihuni oleh ribuan orang jawa itu adalah anak cucu generasi kesekian dari orang jawa pertama yang dibawa oleh Raja Chulalongkorn ke bangkok thailand. Dan sejarah ini dibuktikan dengan peninggalan gajah hitam Raja Rama v yang sekarang jadi nama museum gajah yang berada di Jakarta.

Versi lain menyebutkan, penduduk Jawa dibawa tentara jepang untuk bekerja di perkebunan Thailand. Entah mana yang benar, ketika saya konfirmasi ke warga setempat pun tidak tahu.

Penduduk Jawa itu kemudian mendirikan masjid yang tanahnya merupakan wakaf dari Almarhum Haji Muhammad Shaleh. Akad wakaf tercatat pada 16 Juni 2440 diberikan pada masyarakat muslim pada umumnya. Ameen Mudpongtua, imam Masjid Jawa menjelaskan, masjid itu terbuka bagi siapa saja meski berada di tengah-tengah kampung Jawa.

Saya sendiri sempat dihampiri seorang jemaah, bertanya kepada saya dalam bahasa Indonesia. Dia menyebutkan tanah leluhurnya berasal dari Klaten, jawa tengah. Tapi dia mengaku sudah tidak bisa berbahasa jawa. Jemaah lainnya bernama Billy, malah lancer berbahasa Sunda. Ternyata, dia warga kampong Jawa yang sempat kuliah di ITB, Bandung, dan tinggal di Bekasi. Sekejap saya benar-benar lupa sedang berada di Bangkok.

Fajar di Masjid Jawa, Bangkok. foto: benny rhamdani

Kegiatan di Masjid Jawa, tidak berbeda dengan masjid pada umumnya. Selain ibadah wajib, seperti salat lima waktu dan salat Jumat, juga ada pengajian dan pembagian zakat. Setiap hari selepas salat Magrib, giliran anak-anak yang belajar mengaji. Di depan masjid terdapat sebuah madrasah. Bangunannya berlantai dua dengan ruangan terbuka. Biasanya, waktu belajar dari jam 19.00 hingga 20.00. Pesertanya adalah anak-anak dan remaja.

Selain itu, di seberang jalan, terdapat area pemakaman muslim yang mampu menampung sekitar seribu makam. Masjid Jawa memang khas Jawa. Selain bangunan dan beberapa perangkatnya, rumah-rumah yang ada di sekitarnya juga mirip perkampungan Kauman yang biasanya terletak di sekitar masjid besar di Jawa.

Yang menarik, di perkampungan itu juga tinggal salah satu keluarga besar dari KH Ahmad Dahlan. Dia adalah tokoh pembaharu Islam asal Jogja yang mendirikan Muhammadiyah, salah satu ormas Islam terbesar di Indonesia. Dia adalah Walidah Dahlan yang merupakan anak dari almarhum Irfan Dahlan, anak kelima KH Ahmad Dahlan.

Rencananya saya ingin bertamu ke sana. Tapi karena masih terlalu pagi, saya urungkan niat saya. Semoga pada kunjungan berikutnya ke Masjid jawa ini, saya bisa bertandang ke rumah keturunan KH Ahmad Dahlan.

(Benny Rhamdani, penejalajah tinggal di Bandung)

http://wisata.kompasiana.com/jalan-jalan/2013/04/20/menengok-masjid-jawa-di-bangkok-548358.html

Berita Terkait:
Menengnok Masjid Jawa di Bangkok
http://melayuonline.com/eng/news/read/7800/menengok-masjid-jawa-di-bangkok

Fom: http://travel.okezone.com/read/2011/02/09/409/423101/menengok-komunitas-jawa-di-bangkok

Winai Dahlan Kunjungi Kampung Halaman Kakeknya

Senin, 22 April 2013

Cakra Aminuddin

Yogyakarta - Dalam rangka mempelajari dan mengetahui lebih dalam mengenai akar dan sejarah keluarganya, cucu KH Ahmad Dahlan, Prof. Dr. Winai Dahlan, didampingi 23 orang dari Thailand — 10 orang di antaranya adalah cicit dan 2 oang canggah KH Ahmad Dahlan — berkunjung ke kampung halaman orang tua dan kakeknya di Kauman Yogyakarta.

Kakeknya merupakan seorang pendiri organisasi masyarakat terbesar di Indonesia, yaitu Muhammadiyah. Prof. Winai Dahlan mengawali kunjungannya dengan mendatangi Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Senin (15/4). Kemudian menghadiri acara Soft Launching “Ensiklopedi Muhammadiyah” di  Asri Medical Center (AMC), Selasa (16/4).

Cucu KH Ahmad Dahlan yang juga Direktur Halal Science Center, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok -Thailand ini, menceritakan bahwa dirinya adalah anak dari Irfan Dahlan yang merupakan anak KH Ahmad Dahlan dengan Siti Walidah — yang dikenal dengan sebutan Nyai Dahlan — seorang Pahlawan Nasional dan pendiri pergerakan Aisyiyah.

Winai Dahlan datang ke Yogyakarta untuk mengenali kembali keluarga yang hilang. Karena ada seorang ilmuwan di Thailand yang mengatakan bahwa dirinya adalah cucu seorang tokoh besar di Indonesia.

“Oleh karena itulah saya datang ke Yogyakarta,” ungkap Prof. Winai.

Ia juga masih ingat kata-kata yang diucapkan oleh ayahnya Irfan Dahlan, ketika masih hidup: sejauh-jauhnya orang Muhammadiyah itu pergi, pada akhirnya akan kembali pada Muhammadiyah juga.

Untuk mewujudkan apa yang dikatakan ayahnya, Prof. Winai kemudian mengadakan kerja sama dengan perguruan tinggi Muhammadiyah di Indonesia, seperti UMY dan UM Malang.

“Kami, keluarga Muhammadiyah di Thailand juga berharap bisa membantu warga Muhammadiyah di sini. Agar kami juga dapat berbagi ilmu pada sesama,” pungkasnya.

http://muhammadiyahdiy.or.id/opini/baca/228/winai_dahlan_kunjungi_kampung_halaman_kakeknya

Winai Dahlan, Direktur The Halal Science Center di Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok: Cucu K.H. Ahmad Dahlan (Pendiri Muhammadiyah)

November 2009 lalu, forum pengajian mahasiswa muslim Indonesia yang sedang belajar di Thailand (Ngaji-khun) berkolaborasi dengan Majelis Taklim KBRI Bangkok mengadakan semacam kuliah terbuka bertema Halal Food in Thailand. Yang menarik adalah bahwa pemberi materi kuliah terbuka ini adalah Assoc. Prof. Dr. Winai Dahlan yang adalah cucu pendiri Muhammadiyah K.H. Ahmad Dahlan. Saat ini Khun Winai Dahlan menjabat Direktur Halal Science Center, Chulalongkorn University di Bangkok. Posting ini bukan orisinil tulisan saya tapi merupakan kutipan berita dari media yang bercerita tentang profil Khun Winai Dahlan. Posting ini juga sebagai informasi bahwa ada keturunan tokoh besar Indonesia yang tinggal di Thailand dan mengambil peran kunci dalam urusan halal-nonhalal (tak cuma makanan) tak hanya di Thailand, tapi juga dunia.


Sumber:
http://arsip.pontianakpost.com/berita/index.asp?Berita=Metropolis&id=154818

Kakek Pendiri Muhammadiyah, Cucu Pendiri Riset Halal

Di tengah sulitnya mencari makanan yang tidak mengandung babi di Bangkok, ternyata di ibu kota

Thailand terdapat pusat riset makanan halal yang diklaim sebagai yang pertama dan terbesar di dunia. Yang menarik, pusat riset itu didirikan Winai Dahlan, cucu pendiri Muhammadiyah KH Ahmad Dahlan.

SELAIN menyaksikan langsung dinamika konflik di Thailand Selatan dengan mengunjungi Pattani, Yala, dan Narathiwat, Jawa Pos berkesempatan mengenal tokoh-tokoh intelektual muslim di Negeri Gajah Putih itu. Salah satu yang mengundang penasaran adalah saat diperkenalkan takmir Masjid Akbar Yala dengan keluarga Ahmad Dahlan, tokoh pembaru Islam asal Jogjakarta yang mendirikan Muhammadiyah, salah satu ormas Islam terbesar di Indonesia.

Dalam acara silaturahmi yang diadakan takmir Masjid Yala pada Senin (24/3) sore itu, hadir puluhan undangan, mulai pengusaha, nelayan, dokter, hingga guru sekolah di sana. Namun, saat Ketua Takmir Masjid Yala Mokhtar Hadi menyebut nama Phaisal Dahlan, dosen Yala University, Jawa Pos langsung tertarik. Sebab, Mokhtar menyebut Phaisal berasal dari keluarga tokoh muslim terpandang di Indonesia, KH Ahmad Dahlan.

Usai acara, Jawa Pos langsung mendekat dan memperkenalkan diri kepada Phaisal yang murah senyum itu. Phaisal ternyata tidak bisa berbahasa Melayu. Dia hanya menguasai bahasa Siam dan Inggris. Karena itu, perbincangan sambil makan malam pun terjadi. Yang langsung ditanyakan Jawa Pos adalah bagaimana keturunan KH Ahmad Dahlan bisa bermukim di Thailand.

Menurut Phaisal, ayahnya, almarhum Irfan Dahlan -anak keempat KH Ahmad Dahlan- dikirim belajar ke luar negeri sejak muda. Sepulang dari belajar di Lahore, Pakistan, sekitar 1940-an, Irfan tidak dapat masuk ke Indonesia karena situasi politik yang tidak memungkinkan. Sebab, saat itu Lautan Hindia menjadi medan tempur Perang Dunia II antara sekutu dan Jepang.

“Maka, bapak kami (Irfan Dahlan, Red) memutuskan untuk tinggal di Thailand, membangun keluarga di sana, dan dikarunia sepuluh anak,” kata Phaisal.

Irfan adalah anak KH Ahmad Dahlan dengan Siti Walidah yang dikenal sebagai Nyai Ahmad Dahlan, seorang Pahlawanan Nasional dan pendiri pergerakan Aisyiyah. Dari perkawinannya dengan Siti Walidah, KH Ahmad Dahlan mempunyai enam orang anak. Yaitu, Djohanah, Siradj Dahlan, Siti Busyro, Irfan Dahlan, Siti Aisyah, dan Siti Zaharah.

Meski tidak bermukim di tanah air, Irfan Dahlan aktif mengembangkan dakwah dan selalu mendorong anak-anaknya tetap memberikan kontribusi positif bagi dunia Islam.

“Jadi, tidak masalah di Thailand atau Indonesia, kita bisa memberikan apa yang kita mampu bagi dunia muslim,” ujar Phaisal, mengutip pesan mendiang ayahnya. Kini seluruh keturunan keluarga Irfan Dahlan sudah menjadi warga negara Thailand.

Phaisal juga merekomendasikan agar Jawa Pos menjumpai kakaknya, Winai Dahlan, yang mengepalai The Halal Science Center di Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. Perjanjian lewat telepon pun dibuat saat itu juga. Namun, sayang, saat dihubungi, Winai mengatakan akan berangkat ke Paris, Prancis. Dia mendapat tugas dari pemerintah menghadiri konferensi tentang makanan halal dan baru balik ke Bangkok awal April.

Dengan ramah, Winai meminta Jawa Pos tidak kecewa dan menyarankan agar mengirimkan daftar pertanyaan tentang Halal Center ke email-nya. “Saya akan menjawab pertanyaan Anda semampu saya dari Paris,” ujarnya.

Winai juga mempersilakan datang ke Laboratorium Halal Science Center di Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. “Saya akan meminta kepala laboratorium di sana untuk mewakili saya mengantar Anda melihat fasilitas dan menjelaskan semua hal tentang Halal Center,” tambahnya.
Kunjungan itu pun akhirnya terjadi pada Kamis (27/3) siang lalu, sekitar pukul 11.30. Jawa Pos langsung disambut hangat oleh Sirichai Adisakwattana, kepala Laboratorium Halal Center. Seperti sudah diberi tahu oleh Winai, Sirichai langsung mengajak Jawa Pos meninjau fasilitas pusat riset halal.

Gedung dua lantai di samping pintu masuk kampus Chulalongkorn University itu sarat dengan peralatan yang modern dan canggih untuk mengidentifikasi status makanan apakah halal atau tidak. Sirichai dengan didampingi para staf berbahasa Melayu pun menjelaskan secara singkat latar belakang berdirinya pusat kajian halal tersebut. “Pusat kajian halal ini didirikan pada 2005 untuk menganalisis tentang halal dan najis dengan instrumen ilmiah,” jelas periset 35 tahun yang baru sebulan lalu menikah itu.

Selanjutnya, Jawa Pos diajak ke ruangan berukuran 4 x 6 meter, tempat alat berbentuk kotak dengan monitor dan panel yang menyatu seperti komputer ukuran jumbo zaman dahulu. Alat yang bernama Gas Chromatography Coupled with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) itu mampu mengetahui kandungan organik yang terdapat dalam makanan.

“Selain itu, alat ini mampu mengidentifikasi kandungan lemak yang ada dalam makanan sampai spesifik di ukuran milimikron,” jelasnya.

Dengan GC-MS, lemak dari binatang haram, seperti babi, bisa diketahui secara jelas. “Objek penelitian kami adalah molekul organik dalam makanan yang tidak dapat dianalisis oleh GC analisis konvensional,” kata Sirichai dengan bahasa Inggris fasih.

Lalu, Jawa Pos diajak mengunjungi ruangan yang berisi alat untuk menguji apakah suatu makanan atau minuman mengandung alkohol. Alat berupa tabung mirip rice cooker itu diberi nama Gas-Liquid Chromatography (GLC). “Alat ini mampu menganalisis kandungan kimia yang kompleks seperti alkohol,” terang Sirichai.

Satu lagi alat yang ditunjukkan Sirachai adalah Liquid Chromatography. Kotak yang di salah satu sudutnya berongga untuk tempat pipet sampel uji coba itu mampu menganalisis kandungan peptin, sakarin, atau pemanis buatan yang terdapat dalam makanan.

Di Halal Center bukan hanya potensi barang haram dan najis dalam makanan dan minuman yang diteliti. Alat untuk menganalisis kandungan merkuri yang terdapat dalam kosmetik atau sabun pun tersedia. Namanya, Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometry.

Sedangkan alat termahal dan tercanggih di Halal Center berada di ruangan lantai II yang hanya berukuran 3 x 3 meter. Harganya, menurut Sirichai, USD 8 juta atau sekitar Rp 73,6 miliar. Alat yang dinamakan Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction itu mampu menganalisis DNA binatang dalam produk makanan, apakah berasal dari babi, sapi, atau bebek.

Alat termahal berikutnya adalah Fourier Transform Infra Red Spectroscopy (FTIR) yang digunakan untuk menganalisis produk. Terutama yang mengandung minyak, seperti minyak babi. “Alat yang menggunakan teknik inframerah ini merupakan cara yang murah dan cepat untuk mengidentifikasi material organik. Sebuah produk Anda bawa ke sini, sejam kemudian bisa kami sebutkan material organiknya secara rinci,” jelasnya. Dia menambahkan, harga FTIR saat diimpor dari Jerman tahun lalu USD 5 juta atau Rp 46 miliar.

Seluruh biaya pengadaan alat laboratorium dan fasilitas gedung itu, kata Surachai, bantuan dermawan dari negera-negara muslim di seluruh dunia, khususnya Timur Tengah. “Sebagian lagi berasal dari pemerintah Kerajaan Thailand. Bahkan, tahun depan kami akan mendapatkan gedung baru dua lantai yang lebih besar di depan kampus,” tuturnya.

The Halal Science Center menyediakan 15 periset muda yang berusia 21-35 tahun. Meskipun hasil penelitian sangat bermanfaat bagi masyarakat muslim, tidak semua peneliti beragama Islam. “Ada dua periset yang nonmuslim, termasuk saya yang beragama Buddha,” ungkap Surachai yang membuat kaget Jawa Pos.

Surachai termotivasi bergabung dengan Dr Winai Dahlan karena tertarik dengan manfaat riset halal yang dilakukan seniornya. “Saya menjadi tahu bahwa halal adalah inti dari sehat. Jika kita konsisten mengonsumsi produk halal, kita pasti juga sehat,” terangnya.

Selain periset tetap, Halal Science Center juga menjadi lokasi kerja praktik periset dari mancanegara. “Kami sedang memberikan training kepada mahasiswa dari Malaysia dan serta perwakilan enam provinsi di Thailand,” ungkapnya.

Dengan sumber daya tersebut, Halal Science Center Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, telah mengkaji lebih dari dua ribu produk yang direkomendasikan untuk dimintakan fatwa Majelis Ulama setempat. “Selain itu, kerja sama dengan lembaga sejenis dan perusahaan telah dilakukan untuk memajukan pangsa pasar makanan halal di dunia,” tambah Surachai.

Sementara itu, Dr Winai Dahlan mengatakan, upayanya mendirikan Halal Center hanya sebagian di antara cara untuk memajukan dunia Islam “Saya berpikir, apa yang bisa saya buat untuk dunia Islam dengan ilmu yang dianugerahkan kepada saya,” tulis Winai dalam email-nya. Winai mengaku tidak menyangka bahwa dengan pemikiran sederhana itu, pusat kajian yang didirikannya menjadi pusat kajian pertama dan terbesar di dunia.

Winai yang juga menjabat dekan Fakultas Ilmu Kesehatan di Chulalongkorn University mengatakan mendapat dukungan penuh Kerajaan Thailand setelah berhasil menunjukkan besarnya potensi ekonomi produk halal di Thailand dan pasar global.

“Populasi muslim di Thailand terus tumbuh rata-rata 12,47 persen pada 2000-2007. Dari sini muncul potensi pasar hingga 11 miliar baht (Rp 3,3 triliun),” ujar Winai yang mengaku sudah tidak bisa berbahasa Melayu itu.

Tidak hanya di dalam negeri Thailand. Pasar produk halal juga terus meluas di mancanegara. “Selain pasar yang pasti (captive market) yang berjumlah 1,9 miliar populasi muslim dunia, produk halal merambah Eropa dan AS,” ujarnya.

Dia juga mengaku telah merintis kerja sama dengan beberapa universitas di Indonesia untuk mewujudkan Halal Science Center di tanah air kakeknya. “Kami aktif menjalin kontak dengan IPB dan Universitas Hasanuddin. Kami berharap, Halal Center juga berkembang di Indonesia dan negara-negara muslim lain di seluruh dunia,” katanya.

http://papayapokpok.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/winai-dahlan-direktur-the-halal-science-center-di-chulalongkorn-university-bangkok-cucu-k-h-ahmad-dahlan-pendiri-muhammadiyah/

Sketsa Karya Erfan Dahlan tentang Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi

Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi (1888-1977)

The portrait sketch below was hand-drawn in June 1961 by Erfan Dahlan, who had been a student at the Lahore Ahmadiyya Anjuman’s Isha‘at Islam College in 1927 where Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi was a teacher.

In this portrait Erfan Dahlan has represented Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi in the garb of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. For comparison, see photo of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad on the left.
Below the portrait, Erfan Dahlan has quoted a verse from a poem by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. We translate this below: “For so long had unbelief been devouring the faith [of Islam],
 
Rest assured now that the days are here for devouring unbelief
(From the poetry of the Promised Messiah, peace be upon him).”

About Erfan Dahlan

View photographs of Erfan Dahlan at our other page.
Erfan Dahlan had come from Java to study in Lahore at our Anjuman and had then been sent by the Anjuman to run a mission in Pattani in Siam, present-day Thailand. In the booklet World-Wide Religious Revolution, published in December 1932 by the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore, it is recorded that a Dr A.W. Khan had established an Islamic mission at Pattani, and later Dr Khan came in contact with the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore and he:

“…obtained from our Society the services of Mr. Erfan Dahlan, a young Javanese and a student of our Ishaat Islam College. Mr. Erfan Dahlan joined the Pattani Mission in October 1930. A little later he was sent to Bangkok, the capital of Siam, to learn the Siamese language where he was cordially received by Maulana A. Karim Masoodee, Imam of the Royal Mosque, who is helping him in every way.” (p. 18)

Further information about Erfan Dahlan is found in a paper entitled The rupture between the Muhammadiyah
and the Ahmadiyya by Herman L. Beck published in the journal Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (Vol 161, No 2/3, 2005) which can be read as below:

• Link to that issue on the publisher’s website: www.kitlv-journals.nl/index.php/btlv/issue/view/737
• Local copy of the paper at our website.

According to this paper, Erfan Dahlan was son of Ahmad Dahlan (d. 1923), founder of the Muhammadiyah movement in Indonesia. He was born in 1905, and his name originally was Jumhan which he changed to Erfan during his stay in India (p. 228). He was sent to the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Lahore by the Central Board of the Muhammadiyah for religious education, after the arrival in Yogyakarta of the Lahore Ahmadiyya missionaries Mirza Wali Ahmad Baig and Maulana Ahmad (p. 226, 227). He qualified as a Muslim missionary and was sent to work in Thailand where he spent the rest of his life.

Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi meets Erfan Dahlan again, June 1958

In June 1958, on his way to the Fiji Islands from Lahore, Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi stopped off in Bangkok on 23rd June. Here he met Erfan Dahlan again. This is mentioned in the Maulana’s letter about his journey published in the magazine Ruh-i Islam, October-November 1958 issue, p. 39.

http://www.abdulhaq.info/photos/sketch.htm

Denial of flood aid to the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Pakistan

Malik A.M. 2011. "Denial of flood aid to the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Pakistan". Health and Human Rights. 13 (1): 70-77.

Atif M. Malik

Abstract
During the catastrophic floods of 2010 in Pakistan, approximately 500 internally displaced families belonging to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam were denied humanitarian relief. The failure of international agencies and Pakistan’s government to protect basic human rights in the context of disaster relief raises profound questions. If all humanitarian work associated with natural disasters must be governed by canons of human rights, how should international agencies deal with legally empowered official discrimination? A review of the history of the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan reveals decades of state-sanctioned persecution, particularly through its anti-blasphemy laws, and poses a serious challenge to the international community. When effective intervention is predicated on cooperation with state institutions, how can international relief agencies avoid becoming implicated in official discrimination? The denial of flood aid to Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya community highlights the need for concerted action in disaster settings to prevent discrimination against vulnerable groups. Discriminatory legislation is not only a violation of basic norms enshrined in international compacts, it is a key problem for disaster relief.

http://www.hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr/article/view/403/602

Survivors Recount Violence in Cikeusik

By webadmin on 10:42 am May 16, 2011.

Ulma Haryanto

Ahmad Masihuddin, Irwan and Bebi are the lucky ones.
Ahmad recalls the moment when a man attempted to mutilate his genitals, while Irwan has developed an intense fear of water. Bebi cannot speak, due to a dislocated jaw, and must eat through a straw.
Despite the fear of reprisals, two of these three men — Ahmad and Irwan — met with the Jakarta Globe over the weekend to recount their memories of the bloody attack against a small group of Amhadiyah sect members in the village of Cikeusik, Banten, on Feb. 6.
On that day, three Ahmadis — Roni Pasaroni, Warsono and Tubagus Chandra — were killed by a 1,500-strong mob. Much of the violence was captured on video, and footage of Ahmadi men stripped of their clothes and being brutally beaten with stones and bamboo sticks can be seen on YouTube.
Twelve men are facing charges in relation to the attack. If found guilty their maximum sentences could range from 12 years in jail to the death penalty.
But Irwan and Ahmad say that even the harshest of punishments for those 12 men will not blot out the acts of cruelty they witnessed and endured on that day. Nor will guilty verdicts dampen the attendant rage and frustration they feel at a police force that is widely seen as having stood by and allowing the violence to unfold.
“Police pronounced me dead when my muddy, naked body was thrown into a police truck,” Ahmad said. “If I did not use the martial arts knowledge I learned through the years, I’d be among the dead.”
The police had collected Ahmad’s battered body after he had been dragged through the dirt by a group of enraged attackers. “Along the way, people slashed me with machetes, and threw rocks and bamboo poles at me. I lost consciousness. I believed I had died.”
Unguarded
Irwan, Roni and Warsono had left for Cikeusik from Jakarta on the night of Feb. 5. Irwan told the Globe that they had traveled to Cikeusik to provide security for a demonstration that the village’s Ahmadiyah community was planning on staging the next day.
“I was at our regular Koran recital meeting in Petojo [Central Jakarta]. Roni came to me and asked if I wanted to come along with him to Cikeusik,” Irwan said. “I asked him what for. He told me to guard a demonstration.”
They arrived around 10 p.m. on Saturday night, and were met by Deden Sujana, head of security for the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI). The next day, Deden would almost lose his right arm to a machete attack, and police would later name him as a suspect for triggering the violence.
Ahmad, who lives in Kalideres, West Jakarta, had likewise gone to Cikeusik to provide security for the demonstration.
“Eki, a colleague of mine at JAI, was on holiday and asked me to replace him to guard an Ahmadi home in Cikeusik. Without thinking it over, I agreed,” he said.
“I was in the same car as [Tubagus] Chandra and Diaz [Ferdiaz Muhammad, an Ahmadi who survived the incident]. Chandra was driving, we arrived at Serang at 3 a.m. and picked up five more Ahmadis.”
Ahmad had prior experience protecting sect members. In 2008 he had guarded an Ahmadi school in Parung, Bogor, that had come under attack, and he had been on hand with the now-deceased Tubagus when one of the sect’s orphanages in Tasikmalaya, West Java, was sealed by local authorities last December.
Ahmad worked in the administrations division at JAI, while Tubagus worked for the security division with Deden. Ahmad, however, was well trained in self-defense. He had earned a black belt in Taekwondo at the age of 15, and was instructing others in Muay Thai at 18.
As Ahmad and his friends pulled into Cikeusik, he was relieved to see some dozens of police officers standing watch over both ends of the road where the house of local Ahmadiyah cleric Ismail Suparman was located. “I texted my parents so that they didn’t have to worry. The police were here,” Ahmad said.
“Suddenly, the wife of the Cikeusik village head, Inayah, ran toward us screaming. She told all of us to leave immediately, because it seemed thousands of people were marching to Cikeusik to slaughter us. Deden told her, ‘Don’t worry. We have Pak Hasan [Cikeusik Police chief of general crimes unit] here.’ ”
However, video footage posted on YouTube clearly showed the police running away when the mob attacked.
Tired from their late-night journey, Ahmad said he and his friends laid down to rest. They awoke around 10:30 a.m., he said, to loud chants of “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) and “Ahmadiyah infidels” mixed in with the sound of stones hitting the house.
To Ahmad’s ears, it sounded as if thousands of people were outside Ismail’s home. It was then, Ahmad said, that Deden rushed outside, and attempted to hit a man in a black jacket who seemed to be leading the mob.
“This man was Idris Mahdani,” Ahmad said. “He is from Banyu Mundu village [40 kilometers away from Cikeusik]. After he was hit by Deden, he retreated several steps back before taking out his machete and waved it in the air as the villagers pelted the Ahmadis with rocks.”
Vicious Beatings
Following Deden’s lead, Ahmad said he went outside and starting throwing stones back at the mob, but realizing that they were vastly outnumbered, he and some of the other sect members tried to escape out the back door of Ismail’s house. “We ended up stuck in knee-high mud at the paddy fields. We could not run. The drive to Cikeusik was taxing and we were exhausted,” he said.
The group of Ahmadis parted then, he said. Some sought cover in a patch of jungle while others headed to a nearby river.
Irwan and Ahmad fled to the river. Irwan slipped and fell in. Ahmad stumbled and was caught by the mob.
“I had with me about Rp 2 million ($235) for food and accommodation, and my BlackBerry. The mob greedily took it. But they still did not spare me.”
It was then that he saw Roni trying to go to the defense of their friend Bebi, who was on the ground being kicked by members of the mob. Someone would drop a heavy stone on Bebi’s face, but he would survive, largely because of Roni’s help.
Roni, who declined to talk to the Globe, would suffer a dislocated jaw in the attack.
In the meantime, Ahmad was fighting for his own life.
“I saw Irwan slip and fall into the river. I had 10 men on top of me trying to hit me with sticks and stones and they stabbed me with their machetes,” he said.
Ahmad said he was dragged 500 meters back to Ismail’s house, and viciously beaten the whole way. He said he saw Roni being stabbed with a bamboo spear.
“They stripped me,” Ahmad said. “They were about to cut my genitals. I shoved the man and shouted ‘You guys have to have limits!’ Another man hit me on the side but the impact also knocked away the guy who tried to mutilate my genitals.”
Ahmad said that he tried to retain his focus and stay calm during the beating, protecting his head and neck in particular to avoid being fatally wounded by the mob.
“I turned on my side and let it take the beatings. I did not want to give them my neck.” He said that he still felt a numbness in his neck from the injuries he sustained during the prolonged beating. “Part of my body went to sleep, as if struck by a stroke.”
At some point, Ahmad said, he lost consciousness.
“The police thought I was dead; they threw me into the car just like that. But I gained consciousness and started to ask for water. I was extremely dehydrated,” he said.
While Ahmad was struggling to survive the mob’s anger, Irwan was struggling to stay afloat in the river while also dodging a hail of rocks being thrown at him.
“I could barely swim,” Irwan said. “I was dragged by the current as I tried to stay afloat. In the meantime the mob was still trying to hit me with rocks,” he said.
At one point, he went under, and lost track of the time. He said he had no idea how long he was submerged, but remembered being pulled from the river.
“At one point it was all dark. But then I heard a voice calling me. It was Yadi, another Ahmadi” Irwan said. Yadi had swum against the current to rescue Irwan, dragging him to the shore.
Shirt for a Bandage
For Ahmad, the trip from Cikeusik to Malingping hospital, 10 kilometers away, took one and a half hours. He said the police gave him a shirt with which to stem the bleeding from a gash on his head.
“I met Deden in the hospital, he was holding his right hand, I saw Bebi vomiting blood, Ferdiaz put me on his lap and started giving me water, he was also injured,” he said.
Deden was taken to Pertamina hospital in Jakarta. The other men were transferred to Serang hospital, six hours away. In Serang, their fresh stitches had to be removed because they crusted with dirt.
Although Irwan did not sustain any serious injuries, he said he was now terrified of water, and had trouble recounting the details of the attack.
“I am undergoing counseling for my trauma. My therapist said that I had to think of water as my savior. If the river current didn’t carry me away, I might be one of the casualties,” he said.
Ahmad, however, said he was consumed with rage whenever he saw police officers or fundamentalist Muslims in white robes.
“Once I wanted to go to Senen, I passed the National Monument and at that time there was a demonstration on Libya and Ahmadiyah. All of a sudden I started shouting to the driver, ‘Just hit them! Hit them! Why should they make a fuss over another country when their own is still in a mess,’ ” he said.
Ahmad also said he suffered from vertigo and severe headaches after the beating, and had just recently recovered the ability to speak.
“Previously, I found it almost impossible to talk,” he said.
“Once I was in Citraland [West Jakarta mall] and saw a police officer. I went to him and screamed at him, ‘What are you doing here? You’re doing nothing! Just like in Cikeusik! Officers only watch and do nothing!’ ”

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/archive/survivors-recount-violence-in-cikeusik/

Awards for War? Why Are We Giving Prizes to Burma's Thein Sein and Indonesia's SBY?

Benedict Rogers

East Asia Team Leader at Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission

Posted: 16/05/2013 13:21

Intelligent people can be staggeringly unintelligent at times.

In recent weeks, two respectable international organisations working in the fields of conflict resolution, human rights and interfaith dialogue have awarded prizes to the leaders to two Asian countries where there is growing religious conflict and grave violations of human rights.

On 22 April, International Crisis Group presented its annual "In Pursuit of Peace" award to Burma's President, Thein Sein. And last week, the Appeal of Conscience Foundation announced it was giving its World Statesman Award to the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Both men, it is true, have taken their countries on a path of greater openness and more engagement with the world. Both have talked the language of reform and democratisation. And in both countries, there are positive achievements to point to.
In Burma, over the past two years there has been a change in atmosphere. There is more freedom of expression, and increased space for civil society, the media and political actors. Many political prisoners have been released, and Aung San Suu Kyi was elected to Parliament a year ago in by-elections, along with 42 of her colleagues in the National League for Demcoracy (NLD). Fragile, preliminary ceasefires have been agreed with all but one of the ethnic armed groups.
Indonesia has made a remarkable transition to democracy from dictatorship, and President Yudhoyono - or "SBY" - has consolidated political reform. Indonesia now has a thriving civil society and a largely free press.
And yet, in both countries, during the governments of both men, conflict and religious intolerance has grown.
In June 2011, President Thein Sein's government ended a 17-year ceasefire with the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and launched a major military offensive against the Kachin people. The KIO, despite its name, is not fighting for secession - they simply want equal rights for the ethnic nationalities, and a degree of autonomy in a federal democracy. From 1994 until 2011, they not only maintained a ceasefire, but co-operated actively with the regime, participating in the sham National Convention to draft a new Constitution. Yet when the regime pushed them to become a Border Guard Force under the control of the Burma Army, effectively surrendering without any political settlement, the KIO not unreasonably refused. The response from Thein Sein's government? A return to war which has left over 100,000 civilians displaced, more than 200 villages burned down and over 66 churches.
In December, the Burma Army intensified its assault on the Kachin, using airstrikes for the first time in decades. Elderly people, women and children were among the casualties. Even now, although the conflict has de-escalated, severe human rights abuses continue. I met one man recently who had been imprisoned last year, and endured horrific torture. He was hung upside down for a day and a night, beaten and attacked with knives. "They put a hand grenade in my mouth and threatened to pull the pin ... then they put a plastic bag over my face and poured water over it," he told me. The wife of one current Kachin prisoner described seeing her husband after he had been tortured. "He was covered in blood, and his nose was broken...An iron bar was rubbed along his legs. He was forced to engage in homosexual sex ...He was told that as he was a Christian, he should kneel on very sharp stones with his arms outstretched like Christ on the cross...He was beaten on his hands and arms."
As another Kachin told me, "the impact of the war this time has been enormous. Many have lost land, plantations, livelihoods ... People are living in the middle of nowhere, hopeless, desperate, suffering." Another talked of their loss of trust in Thein Sein. "This civilian government is worse than the previous military regime," one said. "They should start with dialogue. Imposing demands with military action is wrong." A third said that when Thein Sein became President, "people had hope". But now, due to the hardship of war, "instead of hope, they hate the government".
And the Kachin are not the only ones whose suffering has increased dramatically in the past year or two. In June last year, a major campaign of violence against the Muslim Rohingya people in Arakan State began, followed by another wave in October, resulting in at least a thousand deaths, and the displacement of at least 130,000 people. Wider anti-Muslim violence erupted this year, and tensions continue to smoulder. Thein Sein's security forces were complicit in many instances: in some cases they actively participated in the violence, in other places they stood by and watched as Muslims were slaughtered. Major international human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch have warned of ethnic cleansing.
To what extent Thein Sein himself is directly culpable is open to debate. At times his rhetoric has been reassuring, but at other times his statements have been extraordinarily inflammatory, as when he called on the UN to resettle Rohingyas to third countries. Either way, even his reassuring statements have not been followed through with action, and whether through weakness, negligence or deliberate design, he has presided over the displacement of over 230,000 people during his presidency, and an escalation in conflict. How can he be the recipient of a peace award?
Similarly, during SBY's presidency religious intolerance has escalated. Christian churches have been forced to close even though they are legally licensed; congregations have been subjected to violence and intimidation; Ahmadi Muslims have faced increasing persecution, and now live in fear; Shia Muslims are under threat too; and an atheist has been jailed. Like Thein Sein, it is debateable whether SBY is actively complicit or just weak, but either way he has not intervened to stop violence, protect minorities or promote religious harmony. He has not been heard contradicting the chilling remarks of the Governor of West Java, who said that Indonesia's problems will disappear when the Ahmadiyah disappear. Indonesia's tradition of pluralism and moderate Islam has begun to unravel during his presidency. What on earth qualifies him for an award for championing religious freedom?
Sometimes well-intentioned people see situations only in simplistic terms. Burma is beginning, at least on the surface, in some areas, to change - so, think the policy wonks, Thein Sein is a wonderful man who deserves a peace prize. Ditto Indonesia, which has made a remarkable transition - ergo, SBY is a great champion of religious freedom. So desperate are they for just a glimmer of good news after years of bad, they are like British people at the first hint of sunshine - they strip off, get the barbecue out and have a party, ignoring the storm clouds gathering on the horizon.
On the other hand, sometimes complexity is over-emphasised, and used as an excuse for inaction. Such an approach is equally dangerous, attempting to excuse severe human rights violations in the name of complexity or 'cultural differences'.
If the international community is to encourage genuine reform, promote religious harmony and resolve conflicts, it must recalibrate its position in regard to both Burma and Indonesia. It is right to caveat criticisms with a recognition of positive achievements; it is also right to present criticisms as constructively as possible, appealing to self-interest. Indeed, both Thein Sein and SBY risk undoing all they have achieved by ignoring religious intolerance and failing to end conflict and promote peace, and that point should be made clearly to them. But it is plain wrong to ignore the problems and let them go unchallenged, and it is either stupidly naive or wilfully complicit to present awards for peace to Thein Sein or SBY while conflict in both countries increases. What will be next? Kim Jong Un for the Nobel Peace Prize?

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