Police question FPI members

JAKARTA (JP): City Police began questioning on Monday two members of Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) Muslim organization, who have been named suspects in a raid on four gaming centers in West Jakarta in mid-December last year.

FPI's Depok, West Java chairman Habib Idrus Al Kadri and Munandar, who heads FPI force in Tambora district in West Jakarta, have been charged with violating Article 170 of the Criminal Code on communal attack on a building. The crime carries a maximum sentence of five and a half years in jail.

Also questioned on Monday was FPI preacher Tubagus Muhammad Sidiq, who was summoned as a witness.

During the session, the FPI activists were accompanied by their four-strong team of lawyers led by Zainuddin.

A truckload FPI members vandalized the recreation centers in the Taman Duta Mas shopping complex in Jelambar district on Dec. 11. Police arrived when the attackers were leaving and shot the tires of the trucks carrying the FPI members and stopped them.

No injuries were reported in the incident, one of a flurry of attacks perpetrated by the radical Muslim activists throughout 2000. (ylt/jun)