Indonesia accused of caving in to extremism

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

JAKARTA (AFP) — Liberal Indonesians on Tuesday accused the government of caving in to extremists after it issued a quasi-ban against a minority Islamic sect in the face of violent protests by Muslim hardliners.

Islamic conservatives welcomed the move and demanded an all-out ban on the Ahmadiyah sect, but liberals in the world's most populous Muslim country condemned Monday's ministerial decree as unconstitutional.

"The government has been weakened by this decision, weakened in the sense that aggressive or extremist fundamentalist Muslims have taken a good lesson from this. They know they can put pressure on the government," said prominent lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution, an advisor to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

"I would say this is the beginning of a...