JP\/5\/sharia<\/p>\n
Clerics meet in Bandung to press for sharia<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nBandung<\/p>\n
Around 200 extremist clerics began a national two-day meeting
\nhere on Tuesday to push for the introduction of sharia law in the
\npredominantly Muslim country ahead of the 2004 general elections.<\/p>\n
The forum is aimed at consolidating ulemas and habaib (ethnic
\nArabs who claim to be able to trace their ancestry back to the
\nProphet Muhammad), grouped in the Islamic Propagation Center
\n(Pusdai), in anticipation of a national leadership change after
\nthe 2004 election.<\/p>\n
Committee chairman Inqa Faqurroqobah said the participants
\nwere expected to agree on support for presidential candidates who
\nwere committed to promoting the implementation of sharia in
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
"We don't want the next president to be someone who
\narbitrarily arrests Muslim activists but rather someone who
\nallows Muslims to institute sharia," he told journalists on the
\nsidelines of the meeting in Bandung, West Java.<\/p>\n
The National Police under President Megawati Soekarnoputri's
\nadministration have been accused of illegally arresting extremist
\nactivists in the fight against terrorism.<\/p>\n
Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
\nPerjuangan) was one of the major factions in the People's
\nConsultative Assembly (MPR) that opposed the incorporation of
\nsharia in the amended 1945 Constitution.<\/p>\n
However, senior politicians in her Cabinet, including Vice
\nPresident Hamzah Haz and Minister of Justice and Human Rights
\nYusril Ihza Mahendra, are among those who support the
\nimplementation of sharia. The two are also presidential hopefuls
\nin the 2004 elections.<\/p>\n
Yusril recently told supporters of his Crescent Star Party
\n(PBB) that he would press ahead with the struggling for the
\nimplementation of Islamic law through constitutional means.<\/p>\n
Inqa, a senior figure from the Bandung Mubaligh (Propagators)
\nCorps, further said the meeting, called the National Mudzakkaroh
\n(dialog), is drafting a convention on the implementation of
\nsharia in Indonesia, which is home to some 212 million people.<\/p>\n
The convention will include an agreement to support
\npresidential candidates who are committed to Islamic law, he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
However, he said the campaign for the enforcement of sharia
\nshould continue to be waged within the framework of the Unitary
\nRepublic of Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Inqa said the meeting was trying to combine radical and
\nmoderate versions of sharia in implementing the Islamic law,
\nadding that the convention will be presented to the government
\nand the House of Representatives for consideration.<\/p>\n
He had been summoned ahead of the meeting on Tuesday by the
\nSiliwangi military commander, reportedly to clarify whether the
\nforum was to be attended by members of a number of hard-line
\nMuslim groups, including Laskar Jihad, the Islam Defenders Front
\n(FPI) and Jamaah Islamiyah.<\/p>\n
However, Inqa denied this. "I met the military chief to
\ndiscuss the agenda of the meeting," he said, but declined to go
\ninto details.<\/p>\n
FPI leader Habib Rizieq Shihab was scheduled to attend the
\nmeeting, but failed to show up on the first day of the dialog.<\/p>\n
Other participants included Ustadz (teacher) Mudzakir from the
\nAl-Islam Islamic boarding school in Surakarta, Central Java, who
\ntestified on behalf of jailed terror suspect Abu Bakar Ba'asyir
\nduring his recent trial in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Ba'asyir's lawyer Mehendradatta and his colleague Mursalin
\nDahlan were among those present.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp5sharia-1447899208",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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