Muslim groups rally against U.S. govt

Some 500 members of several Muslim-based organizations gathered here on Friday to protest against the U.S. over its policy on terrorism, which they claimed to be a way of maintaining the superpower's dominance over the world.

The event, which was entitled "Western Machinations Against Terrorism to Counter the Awakening of Islam", was attended by Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, the Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MMI), Islam Anchor (Jangkar Islam), the Friendship Forum of Yogyakarta Mosque Teenagers (FSRMY), and the Muslim-based Crescent Star Party (PBB).

Chamim Zarkasi of the Crescent Star Party of Yogyakarta provincial office said that the U.S. had used the terrorism issue to discredit Islam as it feared that the future would see Islam victorious.

He said that the organizations were trying to apply and enforce syariah (Islamic law) and such a move had been wrongly seen as a terrorism initiative.

A number of Muslim organizations in the country, including Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia and MMI, have been making a big effort to insert syariah law into amendments to the 1945 National Constitution.

On Jan. 15, 2002, for example, MMI held a two-day seminar titled "Proposals for the Amendment of the 1945 Constitution Adjusted to the Syariah Islam".

Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia and the Crescent Star Party were among 10 other Muslim organizations that attended the seminar.

Other participating organizations included the Muhammadiyah, Hidayatullah, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI), Al-Irsyad, the Preparation Committee for the Implementation of Syariah Islam (KPPSI), and the Extended Family of Indonesian Islamic Parties (KBPII).

Muhammadiyah is the second-largest Muslim organization after Nahdlatul Ulama, which has more than 40 million members across the country. --JP