Muslim militants urge the imposition of Islamic Law
Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Thousands of white-clad Muslim militants and religious conservatives rallied and prayed in cities across the country on Sunday, urging the government to soon impose the Islamic Law or better known here as syariah. Women wearing headscarves and men dressed in long, white robes were among the demonstrators who marched through central Jakarta. They carried banners reading, 'Uphold Syariah' and chanted Allahu Akbar that literally means God is Great.
"If you are Muslim, you have to struggle to establish Syariah law," said Harimoekti, an activist with the conservative non-governmental organization Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia or Indonesian Liberation which helped to organize the rallies. "Under Syariah law, we can prevent corruption and improve the daily lives of people," he added. "The world would be a beautiful place with Syariah," he then hailed to the crowd. Some other speakers urged supporters to vote only for candidates who support Syariah in the April 5 parliamentary elections. Others turned the event into a religious gathering, leading the crowd in chanting passages from the Quran.
Organisers said 20,000 supporters gathered in several cities and a few hundred in Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city. In Surabaya, the crowd marched to local government offices calling for the removal of anyone without sufficient Islamic credentials. "This peaceful march is aimed at encouraging voters to take advantage of the election by choosing the best leaders," said Usman of Surabaya's Hizbut Tahrir.
Rallies and campaign were then aimed to convincing other moderate Muslims in the country , usually linked with the country's two largest organizations of Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah. But leaders of the two organizations gave no signs of approval to the idea of implementing the syariah. They said, although more than 80 percent of the country's population are Muslim, only the war-torn and predominantly Muslim province of Aceh has officially implemented the system but also on a small scale.
Indonesia's founding fathers wrote a constitution in 1945 for a secular government and religious tolerance between the Muslim majority and Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and other minorities. Successive governments have fended off calls for Indonesia to become an Islamic state. In 2002, lawmakers rejected calls to amend the constitution to include Syariah law and the country's largest Muslim groups have repeatedly opposed making it state policy. (MH)
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