Slamet Susanto and Blontank Poer, Yogyakarta – Thousands of Muslims thronged a sermon here Sunday by firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who served time over the 2002 Bali bombings.

The sermon closed a two-day meeting of the hard-line Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), which fights for the implementation of sharia law.

The organization, which Ba'asyir has chaired since 2000, distributed aid to victims of the May 27 earthquake that killed some 5,800 people in Yogyakarta and parts of Central Java.

When opening the meeting Saturday, Ba'asyir, who was freed from prison on July 14, said the government should enforce sharia in the predominantly Muslim nation.

The frail, 68-year-old cleric said that in its attempts to promote Islamic law in the country, the MMI must forge close cooperation with local administrations.

"Sharia is a foregone conclusion, we can't trade it with anything, including pluralism. We can bargain about mundane affairs but not sharia," Ba'asyir said.

MMI spokesman Fauzan Al-Anshori said the council's national meeting was aimed at consolidating the organization, which had been left in disarray when Ba'asyir was sentenced to jail.

"When Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was in jail, regional branches of the MMI were bereft of a respectable figure as their leader. They also suffered from the terrorist stigma that had been attached to Ba'asyir," Fauzan said.

Given the stigma, numerous MMI programs had been canceled as local authorities declined to give permission, Fauzan told The Jakarta Post. "But now that he is here with us, there are no more excuses to stay idle," he said.

When released after serving less than 26 months in Jakarta's Cipinang penitentiary for conspiracy in the first Bali bombings, which killed 202 people and thrust Indonesia onto the front lines of the war on terror, Ba'asyir received a hero's welcome from his supporters.

Three of his supporters died in a road accident before reaching Jakarta.

Addressing his followers in Surakarta, Central Java, hours after his return home, the cleric said he would continue fighting for the implementation of sharia in Indonesia. The National Police have said they would be monitoring Ba'asyir's activities, including his sermons.

A number of foreign governments have shown their displeasure over Ba'asyir's release. Australian Prime Minister John Howard has said Australians were "extremely disappointed, even distressed" at the news of the release.