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AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Thursday November 1, 2001 3:39 PM
Hardline Indonesian Muslim groups demand Islamic law
JAKARTA, Nov 1 (AFP) - Up to 500 members of several hardline Indonesian Muslim groups on Thursday protested at parliament, demanding that the constitution be revised to oblige Muslims to follow Islamic Sharia law.
The protestors rallied in front of the strongly guarded and closed gates of the parliamentary complex where the People's Consultative Assembly, the nation's highest legislative body, was holding its annual session.
They demanded that the 1945 constitution be amended to require Muslims to follow Sharia law. They also demanded that legislators work on an anti-vice law and those guilty of corruption be brought to justice.
Protesters urged the government to sever diplomatic relations with the United States, Britain and Australia over the US-led attacks on Afghanistan.
Several hardline but small Muslim parties have been fighting for years for the inclusion of Sharia law in the constitution. Indonesia's two largest Muslim organizations however have objected to the moves.
Two legislators from the Crescent and Star Party, Hamdan Zulva and Ahmad Sumargono, went to meet the demonstrators outside and promised to take up their cause in parliament.
The demonstrators left, saying they would continue their protest at the US embassy.
Among the groups were the Front for the Defenders of Islam (FPI), the FPI chapter in Solo, Central Java, the Laskar Jihad (Jihad Force), Hizbullah and the Association of the Brotherhood for Indonesian Muslim Workers.
Some of the groups have been at the forefront of anti-American demonstrations in the capital and in other cities following the US attacks.
Two of the groups have also threatened to conduct "sweeps" to drive out citizens of the United States and its allies.
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