JAKARTA: The Indonesian government has begun repatriating en mass thousands of members of a minority religious group from a commune in West Kalimantan, Borneo.
The group was being moved to Jakarta by Indonesian navy ships after its village was attacked and razed by mobs on Jan 19.
The Fajar Nusantara Movement, or GAFATAR, is considered deviant by Indonesia's mainstream religious organizations and members will be sent to their home villages, where possible, to be "re-educated" by religious leaders.
"The group's Muslim members are not obliged to pray and this is clearly blasphemous", Din Syamsuddin of the Indonesian Ulama Council told, local media.
"Police should promptly investigate them. They are criminals who keep on abducting people," Din said.
GAFATAR activities came to light late last year after a female doctor and her 6-month old baby were reported missing from their home in Yogyakarta.
They were found three weeks later in West Kalimantan, where the group is based.
Authorities in Jakarta and neighboring Banten province are providing temporary shelters to GAFATAR members.
However, some are facing difficulties in returning to their homes – mainly in Central Java – as they have sold their houses and land to move to West Kalimantan.
The Jakarta municipal government said it is considering providing permanent housing to GAFATAR members who originate from the capital.
The Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama told the Jakarta Globe: "But there cannot be many of them living in the same rusun (low-cost apartments) to prevent them from forming a new group here".
GAFATAR is said to be an offshoot of a banned group named Al-Qiyadah al-Islamiyah - founded by a self-proclaimed prophet Ahmad Moshaddeq.
Established in Jakarta in 2012, GAFATAR has attracted thousands of followers, who then built their own commune in Borneo. GATAFAR as an organisation was disbanded in 2015, however its ideology continues.
Indonesia is home to dozens of minority religous groups including Shi'ites. However, in recent years some of them have been attacked by mainstream Muslims who refused to co-exist.
