Police to provide security at extremist event
Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang
Police here said they would provide security for the second congress of Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's extremist group in the Central Java city of Surakarta, but threatened to dissolve it if it is closed to the public.
Ba'asyir has been barred by a court in Jakarta from attending the three-day congress of his Indonesian Mujahidin Assembly (MMI), which will begin on Sunday.
"As far as I know the MMI will hold the congress openly. But if its members later declare the meeting is closed to the public, we will stop and disband it," Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Didi Widayadi said on Thursday.
He said his office has permitted the planned congress, arguing that there was no justifiable reason to ban such a meeting in the era of democracy.
"They (MMI) asked us for security and will fulfill the request," Didi added.
Ba'asyir, the alleged spiritual leader of Jamaah Islamiyah who chairs the MMI, would likely be absent from the congress as the Central Jakarta District Court turned down the request for his temporary release from detention.
He is standing trial on charges of plotting to kill President Megawati Soekarnoputri in 1999 (the then vice president), and his involvement in the Christmas bombings one year later.
Ba'asyir was scheduled to present his accountability speech at the Aug. 10-12 meeting to elect new members of the MMI's Ahlul Hali wal-Aqdi (board of experts).
The MMI chairman, Irfan S. Awwas, said last month that the upcoming congress would focus on creating concrete programs to ensure Islamic sharia law was implemented in the predominantly Muslim country.
"We have made up our minds not to stray from our ultimate goal of establishing Islamic law in the country," he told a news conference in Yogyakarta.
The MII was one of the forces behind demands that the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) include the Jakarta Charter in the 1945 Constitution during the Annual Session in 2002. Most MPR factions rejected the inclusion of Islamic law in the Constitution.
Around 800 MMI activists will attend the congress, which will open at the Manahan Square, Surakarta.
Several Muslim figures, including preacher Zainuddin MZ, Din Syamsuddin of Muhammadiyah, Alawy Muhammad of the United Development Party (PPP), former head of the Indonesian Intelligence Agency (Bakin) Z.A. Maulani and Husein Umar of the Islamic Preaching Council (DDI), have confirmed their attendance at the meeting.
The congress committee has invited National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar to deliver a speech about the polices's views on the implementation of Islamic sharia law in Indonesia and the law's stance on terrorism. His attendance is not confirmed.
The group, founded in 2000, claims to have established 38 executive boards in regencies and municipalities, and 10 others in provinces across the country, namely West Nusa Tenggara, Bali, East Java, Central Java, West Java, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, South Sumatra, North Sumatra and South Sulawesi.