THIS is the darkest hour in the history of interfaith relations in the reform era. After the incidents at Cikeusik, Banten, and Temanggung, Central Java, the government took no firm action against the people responsible for the collective violence. In fact, exactly the opposite happened: the ‘snowball’ of intimidation against the Ahmadiyah group, a sect regarded as deviant, grew stronger.

Victims of the violence received no protection from t