Indonesian police detain members of ‘deviant’ Islamic group - UCA News (2025)

Police in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province have arrested members of a group accused of spreading a “deviant” form of Islam in villages.

Aditya Pandu, head of the Criminal Investigation Unit in Maros Regency, said on April 4 that five members of the Ana Loloa Order, including its leader, Petta Bau, 59, were detained for investigation.

He said the arrests were made because the group was “disturbing the community” and its teachings had been "declared deviant" by the Indonesian Ulema Council.

He said the group teaches that the pillars of Islam are eleven instead of five—the declaration of faith, prayer, almsgiving, fasting during Ramadan, and the Hajj pilgrimage.

“Followers of this sect are also taught that the Hajj need not be to Mecca, but can be done at the peak of Mount Bawakaraeng,” Pandu said, referring to the popular hike in South Sulawesi.

He said that followers of the group are also required to buy spiritual objects such as keris, a distinctive Indonesian dagger believed to possess magical powers, as a requirement to enter heaven.

The group believes that the apocalypse is near and only those who possess such objects will be saved.

People reported the group's activities in October last year, and the Ministry of Religion sent a team to investigate in coordination with Islamic organizations and local governments.

Bau and her members had then pledged to stop spreading their teachings, said Pandu.

However, they were reported to have imparted their teachings in the Bonto-bonto hamlet in Tompobulu district last month.

He said the accused could be charged with blasphemy.

Danial, the head of the Early Detection and Handling Team for Religious Social Conflict in Tompobulu district, told UCANews that the group's leader, Petta Bau, "could not explain her teachings theologically."

Danial, who, like many Indonesians, has only one name, said Bau claimed to have received the teachings in dreams.

Indonesia officially recognizes only six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. It also recognizes certain tribal religions.

Many belief systems and groups that are seen as deviations from Islam have also emerged, often causing a backlash from the majority Sunni Islamic group.

Mainstream Christian groups also report aboutneo-Christian sects pushing for membership in the Christian-majority pockets.

In 2022, the Church of Almighty God (CAG), a Chinese Christian cult, was accused of trying to lure local Catholics in Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara province.

This made the regency's National Unity and Political Agency conduct surveillance and monitoring of people suspected of having links with the group.

CAG, also known as Eastern Lightning, is believed to have 3-4 million members in China.

About 87 percent of Indonesia’s more than 275 million people are Muslims, and Christians make up 11 percent or some 30 million. Of these, some 8.5 million are Catholics, according to a 2022 government report.

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