Council calls for peaceful protests

Council calls for peaceful protests

Antara, Jakarta

The Indonesian Council of Mosques wants to see demonstrations
that are orderly, peaceful and "well-intentioned" during the
ongoing People's Consultative Assembly Annual Session.

"Demonstrations are permissible so long as they are peaceful,
controlled and, most of all, do not turn into riots," Council
chairman Ahmad Sutarmadi said here on Wednesday.

Security officials are anticipating major demonstrations
involving hard-line Muslim groups that want to publicize their
demand for syariah (Muslim law) to be discussed in the 10 days of
sessions.

Islamic parties, such as the United Development Party (PPP),
Justice Party and Crescent Star Party (PBB) have sought
reinclusion of the controversial Jakarta Charter in the
Constitution. If the move succeeds, it would pave the way for
enforcement of syariah.

Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim
organizations, have opposed the idea to reinstate the Jakarta
Charter into the Constitution.

Minister of Religious Affairs Said Agil Husein Almunawar said
he did not believe in an intelligence report that hard-line
Islamic groups were planning massive demonstrations in the coming
few days for syariah.

"I have not heard of the plan," Said said on Wednesday. He
added it would be counterproductive for Muslims to hold street
demonstrations because they could disrupt the sessions.

But in the event that they had aspirations to convey to the
Assembly, he said he would be glad to become their broker. "Let
me handle the groups. I will communicate with them," he said.

Ahmad called on Muslims to trust MPR members in defending
their interests. "Our representatives at the MPR know only too
well what we want."

The Council chairman argued that syariah would apply only to
Muslims and if it were effective it would not mean that Indonesia
had become a theocracy.

Ahmad said that for the Council, it would be all right if
syariah were not formalized into the Constitution so long as
predominantly Muslim regencies had the freedom to practice it.

So far some regencies in West Java, Banten and South Sulawesi
have been seeking to apply syariah within their areas.

The Megawati government has seen it as a threat to the unitary
state of Indonesia and plans to revise the autonomy law.