Ba'asyir group spreads wing

Ba'asyir group spreads wing

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post/Medan

An Islamic extremist group led by elderly cleric Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir, currently standing trial in Jakarta on terror charges,
has established dozens of new branches in at least eight
provinces across Indonesia.

The Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) central executive board
said on Saturday it has branched out to at least 53 regencies and
mayoralties in eight provinces in a bid to push for its campaign
for Islamic sharia law.

More branches of the organization would be set up in all
cities and towns throughout the predominantly Muslim country of
some 215 million people, senior MMI executive Irfan S. Awas said.

"Our target is that the organization can exist in all corners
throughout the country for the sake of sharia's implementation,"
he said.

Irfan made the announcement in a speech at the inauguration
ceremony of the new MMI executive board for Langkat regency,
North Sumatra, at Amaliyah Mosque in Stabat town, some 120
kilometers from the provincial capital of Medan on Saturday.

In his 30-minute speech, he encouraged all MMI executives to
promote Islamic sharia whatever risks they would face, as
experienced by their top leader, Ba'asyir.

The 66-year-old cleric is on trial at the Central Jakarta
District Court for his alleged links with Jamaah Islamiyah (JI)
blamed for a series of terrorist bombings across Indonesia.

He is specifically charged for inciting followers to
perpetrate the October 2002 Bali attacks, in which 202 died, and
a deadly blast last year at JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that
killed 12 people.

If convicted Ba'asyir faces a possible death sentence.

Many suspect that MMI was linked to the regional JI terror
network, but authorities could not find legal evidence in this
case and Ba'asyir has repeatedly and strongly denied all the
charges against him and his organization.

Ba'asyir founded MMI in 1999 after returning home from
Malaysia, a year after former president Soeharto's downfall. The
MMI central headquarters is located in Surakarta, Central Java,
which is also home to his Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school in
Ngruki.

Irfan also criticized national leaders, including President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and top military chief Gen. Endriartono
Sutarto as well as most Muslims, for having no courage to enforce
sharia in the country.

Most Indonesian Muslims have opposed to the campaigned
enforcement of sharia in the secular country. Support for the
opposition comes from the two nation's largest Islamic
organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah.

Present at Saturday's event was MMI central board leader
Muhammad Tholib and chairman of the organization's North Sumatra
office Heriansyah, as well as their local followers and
sympathizers.

Ahead of the inauguration ceremony, MMI Langkat office held a
discussion on Ba'asyir's book at the North Sumatra Cultural Park
in Medan.