Bandung's Self-Professed 'Prophet' Arrested in Crackdown on Islamic Cult
Bandung. Police in West Java were working to unravel the bizarre details of what appears to be an Islamic cult after storming the founder's home and arresting a 42-year-old man who told followers he was a prophet sent by Allah.
Cecep Solihin and a dozen followers were arrested in a raid on his home in Bandung Wetan subdistrict, in Bandung, West Java, on Wednesday night, Bandung Police chief Sr. Comr. Mashudi told Indonesian news portal Kompas.com. The man, who was well-known in his local community, regularly hosted religious gathering at his home for more than a year — often convincing married women to come to his house to learn about the Koran and Hadeeth.
Their husbands initially thought nothing of the meetings, but then their wives started to disappear for days at a time. Those who returned came back changed, Toha, one of the men, told the Indonesian news portal Vivanews.com. His wife said she no longer respected the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia. She told Toha that she planned to take out several loans from local banks with no intentions of paying the money back.
"My wife no longer respected me, no longer believed that the Prophet Muhammad was the last prophet and declared that Cecep Solihin is a prophet," Toha told vivanews.com.
Other women allegedly never returned home.
Three men reported Cecep to the local police after their wives went missing following a visit to the 42-year-old's home. Two of the women disappeared 11 days ago. The third woman went missing five days ago. All had reportedly joined Cecep's congregation. It is unknown if any of the people arrested in the raid were the missing women.
Cecep and his family deny the allegations, telling local Islamic leaders and the media that the classes focused on the Koran and the Hadeeth. The man, his three wives and his sister all denied spreading "deviant teachings."
"Everything taught during the religious study sessions are based on the Koran and the Hadeeth," Tita, the man's sister, told Vivanews.com. "There's nothing misleading in the teachings, none of the stuff reported by the media."
Members of the Bandung chapter of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) interrogated the family but failed to reach a conclusion.
"[The] MUI is still investigating this case by interviewing Firman and two other people who reported Cecep to police," MUI Bandung secretary Budi Syaifudin said.
By Thursday morning, police had interrogated 15 people in the case. Cecep and his followers remain free of charges, but the chief of the West Java Police said he might be charged with blasphemy, a violation of Indonesia's Criminal Code that carries a five-year prison sentence.
A similar charge was used to jail cult leader Lia Eden for four and a half years. The woman reportedly helmed an organization called "God's Kingdom of Eden," where she called for all other religions to be disbanded. In both instances police detained the cult's followers in an attempt to head-off possible violence, West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. M. Iriawan said.
"This is like the case with Lia Eden," Iriawan said. "We're detaining the perpetrators to prevent potential conflicts."
Police will also send Cecep to a psychiatrist to determine whether he suffered from a mental illness.
"We want to know what's going on inside his head and therefore we want to send him for a checkup with a psychiatrist," Iriawan said. "[But] it looks like he only wanted to prove his existence and gain more followers."
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