VZCZCXRO7572
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJS #0020 0620841
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030841Z MAR 09
FM AMCONSUL SURABAYA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0369
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0178
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0354
RUEHJS/AMCONSUL SURABAYA 0375
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0059

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