JP/1/FPI

Fachrul defends Wiranto at FPI meeting

Gen. (ret) Fachrul Razi, a key figure of the Wiranto-Solahuddin Wahid campaign team, briefed a meeting of the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) on Sunday, despite efforts of the Wiranto camp to distance itself from those considered to be hard-liners. Fachrul spoke on various "negative campaign" issues targeted at the candidates ahead of the July 5 direct presidential election.

"Such accusations, calling Pak Wiranto a gross human rights violator, are baseless. Only the devil is capable of such violence ... only the devil," Fachrul told the gathering, where hundreds of small books on the candidates were distributed.

A number of religious leaders affiliated to the FPI said they supported Wiranto; others said they also supported candidates Hamzah Haz and Amien Rais -- and definitely not a woman.

FPI secretary-general Habib Hussein said that its main criteria for candidates should be, "Muslims whose credibility and independence are unquestionable", who were not "American lackeys" and who were "males, as demanded by sharia".

Attendees included FPI chairman Habib Riziq Shihab, Ikhwanul Muslimin leader Habib Hussein Al Habsi and deputy chairman of the Solo-based Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MMI) Ustadz Zulfikar.

FPI's Habib Hussein added they would reject President Megawati Soekarnoputri or Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who both issued policies that "tarnish Islam, stigmatizing it as a terrorist movement and arrested activists who fought in the name of Allah".

Susilo was top security minister when police arrested Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, a noted cleric in Surakarta alleged to have headed Jamaah Islamiyah, which is suspected to be a terrorist group.

Later, Al Habsi appeared puzzled, saying most of the attending religious leaders had agreed to support Wiranto. "People sometimes confuse me," the visually-impaired cleric said. (Tiarma Siboro/Jakarta)