Bangka Regent Insists on Evicting Ahmadiyah

Bangka Regent Tarmizi will not budge from his position that driving Ahmadis out of his region is key to restoring peace and stability. He also refused to take responsibility for their safety if they failed to do so. "We have asked them nicely to relocate," he said last Wednesday.

Tarmizi, previously the secretary of Bangka region, claimed that there were already four fatwas that branded Ahmadis as heretics. Their presence, he said, could "weaken Muslim conviction," adding that the local community would never accept them. "It's not the end of the world for them to move," he grumbled.