FPI, PPMI demand Islamic law

JAKARTA (JP): Some 5,000 supporters of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the Indonesian Muslim Workers Association (PPMI) took to the streets on Monday, demanding the revival of the Jakarta Charter on Islamic law in the 1945 Constitution.

The demonstrators, mostly clad in white robes and headdresses, marched from the Slipi flyover to the House of Representatives/ People's Consultative Assembly compound on Jl. Gatot Subroto, displaying banners reading, among others, Tegakkan Syariat Islam (Uphold Islamic law) and Hancurkan maksiat (Destroy immoral practices).

FPI chairman Muhammad Rizieq Shyihab pointed out that he and the representatives of a number of Islamic organizations came to the House to propose an amendment to the 1945 Constitution with the revival of the Jakarta charter.

"All we want is the insertion of the seven-word phrase, which literally means 'the obligation to enforce Islamic law by its believers' in the preamble to the 1945 Constitution and its application in Article 29," he said in a meeting with House Deputy Speaker AM Fatwa.

The Jakarta charter was dropped from the Constitution on Aug. 18, 1945, following intensive lobbying by former vice president Moh. Hatta with Muslim leaders in the Committee for Investigation of Preparations for Indonesian Independence (BPUPKI).

Rizieq insisted that political parties, the political elite and the Assembly reinsert the Jakarta charter in the Constitution again on the grounds that the majority of the Indonesian people were Muslim.

Rizieq also urged President Megawati Soekarnoputri to step down because a predominantly Muslim country like Indonesia could not be ruled by a woman president.

"According to Islamic law, the main task of a woman is not to rule but to bear a leader," he said.

Eggy Sudjana, chairman of PPMI, said that both FPI and PPMI were ready to face the Megawati-led Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), which according to him, was the "same" as the nationalist party that rejected the inclusion of Islamic law in the preamble of the Constitution.

"We are ready to face PDI Perjuangan, whose predecessors had rejected the inclusion of the Jakarta charter in the Constitution. We will also continue fighting against the presence of a woman president because it is in conflict with Islamic law," he said.

Eggy also said the Muslim people were disappointed with Muslim figures like Assembly Speaker Amien Rais, Vice President Hamzah Haz and Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra because they had betrayed the Islamic law by accepting a woman president.

In the meeting, Eggy demanded that by next year Islamic law be reinserted in the Constitution.

"As amendments to the Constitution are under way and are expected to be completed by 2002, we want the Assembly to reinsert the Jakarta charter," he added.

The rally, which was held under the watchful eye of the security officers, caused a traffic jam along major streets.

Meanwhile, Hamzah denied speculations as groundless, which claimed that his recent elevation to the vice presidency was part of his plan to establish an Islamic state.

"The Vice President has expressed concern over suspicions among certain groups that he will establish an Islamic state because he comes from an Islamic party," Siti Hartati Murdaya, chairwoman of the Indonesian Buddhist Association (Walubi), said after meeting with the Vice President at his office.

Murdaya quoted Hamzah as saying that all sectors of the nation should take the initiative to reconcile to eliminate such a suspicion.

In the meeting with the Vice President, Siti proposed to the government the establishment of a directorate general for Buddhist affairs to improve its service to Buddhist followers. (rms)