Prosecutor seeks three years for 'heretic' Muslim cleric

Iman Dwianto Nugrohom The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

A prosecutor demanded on Thursday that a Malang district court sentence a controversial Muslim cleric to three years in jail for "despoiling" Islam. The defendant, Yusman Roy, had been proven guilty of leading prayers in both Bahasa Indonesia and Arabic, thus insulting Islam, which normally taught its followers to pray in Arabic only, asserted prosecutor Irsadul Ikhfan during a trial session on Thursday. The jail sentence sought by the prosecutor was two years less than the maximum sentence under Article 156 (a) of the Criminal Code that carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment.

The prosecutor believed that Roy's teaching had deviated from Islamic tenets, as proven by letters from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the highest authority on Islam in the country. "The letters condemned the teaching," said the prosecutor.

Besides the letters, the prosecutor also presented other evidence before the court, among others, video compact discs (VCDs) that showed how Roy led his followers by praying first in Arabic, and then translating into Bahasa Indonesia.

Responding to the prosecutor, Roy, a former boxer and convert from Christianity, said that the accusation was baseless. He believed that what he had done was right. In providing Indonesian translations of Arabic verses during prayers he was helping people understand the meaning behind the Arabic verses, he said.

Roy's lawyer from the Legal Aid Institute (LBH), Deddy Priambudi, believed that his client was innocent. All the witnesses testified in favor of him and he was confident that Roy, who is the chairman of I'tikaf Jama'ah Ngaji Lelaku Islamic Boarding School, would escape a jail sentence.

One witness, Ulil Abshar Abdalla, who is also the coordinator of the Liberal Islam Network (JIL), earlier commented that Roy's teaching had not deviated from Islam. "The problem can be settled though dialog so that it is not necessary to resort to legal action," said Ulil.

Police arrested Roy on May 7 this year after certain local residents conveyed reports to police that he was performing bilingual prayers at his Islamic boarding school in Malang. Roy, who has some 300 followers, led the ritual prayers and provided Indonesian translations for the Arabic verses used in the prayers. Ritual prayers, called solat, are carried out five times a day as prescribed in the Koran.