Akbar dismisses 'syariah' chances

JAKARTA (JP): Demands by some Muslim political parties to incorporate syariah, or Islamic law, into the 1945 Constitution will unlikely win enough support in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said on Wednesday.

Akbar was quoted by Antara as assuring delegates from the North Sulawesi legislative council that the motion to make it mandatory to apply the syariah for Indonesia's Muslim majority would be defeated at the MPR annual session in November.

The delegation had earlier said that if the motion was carried out, the predominantly Christian North Sulawesi would immediately walk out of the republic.

As the MPR prepares to introduce the third set of amendments to the 1945 Constitution at its November session, several Muslim parties have renewed their campaign to get what is popularly known as the "the seven words of the Jakarta Charter" reinstated into the country's basic law.

The seven words "obliging its followers to apply the Islamic laws" were present in the original draft of the 1945 Constitution, but were later dropped by the country's founding fathers after strong objections from non-Muslims.

Akbar, whose nationalist Golkar party has the second largest block vote in the MPR, said the state ideology Pancasila guaranteed citizens freedom to practice their faith.

"Therefore, the state has no right to interfere in such personal matters," he said, adding that as far as Golkar was concerned the matter had been settled.

The nationalist Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) which has the largest faction in the MPR, had also openly opposed the re-inclusion of the Jakarta Charter.

Both the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, the two largest Muslim social organizations, have spoken against the plan, saying that it would only sow the seeds of religious disharmony.

Leading the campaign to revive the Jakarta Charter is the Muslim United Development Party (PPP), the third largest faction in the MPR, working in a coalition with a number of smaller Islamic political parties.

PPP chairman Hamzah Haz, who is also the vice president, told a gathering with party officials in Jombang, East Java, on Saturday that the inclusion of the Jakarta Charter would not turn Indonesia into an Islamic state or threaten other religions.

The Crescent and Star Party (PBB) said on Tuesday that it was fighting for the Jakarta Charter in order to give "more space" to Muslims.

"We don't want to change the 1945 Constitution. We just want to assert that Muslims deserve more space because we are the majority," M.S Ka'ban, who heads the PBB faction in the House, told reporters.

Former president Abdurrahman Wahid, a key NU figure, meanwhile warned that reviving the seven words in the Jakarta Charter would only segregate society into Muslims and non-Muslims, which was a sure recipe for disaster, Suara Pembaruan reported on Wednesday.

"It means one class will be above the other. The country will be ruined," Abdurrahman said during a ceremony to mark the 49th anniversary of the NU Youth Association in Jakarta on Tuesday. (07)