Homo Sacer: Ahmadiyya and Its Minority Citizenship (A Case Study of Ahmadiyya Community in Tasikmalaya)

Abstract

Citizenship is among the notions mostly contested after the collapse of a long-standing authoritarian regime in 1998. The reform era – after 1998 - radically transformed Indonesia into a democratic country and brought many other issues including minority issues into the forefront. Unlike other countries that draw their citizenship on a clear formula between religious and secular paradigm, Indonesia, due to ambivalence of its religion-state relation, exhibits fuzzy color of citizenship that leaves space for majority domination over the minority. In consequence, the status of Ahmadiyya for instance, as one of an Islamic minority group, is publicly questioned both politically and theologically. Capitalized by two Indonesian prominent scholars, Burhani (2014) and Sudibyo (2019), I conducted approximately one-month field research in Tasikmalaya and found that what has been experienced by Ahmadiyya resembles Homo Sacer in a sense that while recognised legally through constitutional laws, those who violate their rights are immune to legal charges. This leads to nothing but emboldening the latter to persistently minoritise the former in any possible ways.

The Sovereignty and Retention of the Homo Sacer Subjects in the Rooster Bar Novel

“…Moreover, previous research by Mursyidi et al (2020) entitled Homo Sacer: Ahmadiyya and Its Minority Citizenship (A Case Study of Ahmadiyya Community in Tasikmalaya) supported the argument by revealing the case of Ahmadiyah in Tasikmalaya. The case was interesting because the legal standing of the community was questioned, and they claimed they were not Muslim or non-Muslim.…”

“…The other previous research was conducted by Mursyidi et al (2020) that whose findings showed that the homo sacer phenomenon also happened in the religious areas, especially in Tasikmalaya. They stated that the construction of homo sacer also could be created by certain situations because the majority society has different opinions about religious teaching methods than the minority.…”

“…Due to the different seeing, the minority got a reduction in society order, and they could not have rights to live with their own beliefs because they had already become homo sacer subjects created by the majority people. Therefore, this research significantly differs from that of Mursyidi et al (2020). They focus on the subjectivity of the homo sacer phenomenon that the government did not involve directly and did not promise the homo sacer subjects in an explicit way towards their freedom of speech in public spaces due to the differences in belief in something they trusted.…”

Violence Against Ahmadiyya as Productive Intolerance: Adressing Jeremy Menchik’s Godly Nationalism

“…Various studies reveal various acts of violence experienced by Ahmadiyah, such as the destruction of houses of worship, physical attacks, and restrictions on rights in religion and politics (Sulistyati, 2020;Andi Muh. Taqiyuddin Bn et al, 2022;Mursyidi et al, 2020;Simamora et al, 2020). Menchik's discussion of violence against Ahmadiyah is presented historically in his book.…”