Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – An Islamic extremist group led by elderly cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, currently standing trial in Jakarta on terror charges, has established dozens of new branches in at least eight provinces across Indonesia.
The Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) central executive board said on Saturday it has branched out to at least 53 regencies and mayoralties in eight provinces in a bid to push for its campaign for Islamic sharia law.
More branches of the organization would be set up in all cities and towns throughout the predominantly Muslim country of some 215 million people, senior MMI executive Irfan S. Awas said.
"Our target is that the organization can exist in all corners throughout the country for the sake of sharia's implementation," he said.
Irfan made the announcement in a speech at the inauguration ceremony of the new MMI executive board for Langkat regency, North Sumatra, at Amaliyah Mosque in Stabat town, some 120 kilometers from the provincial capital of Medan on Saturday.
In his 30-minute speech, he encouraged all MMI executives to promote Islamic sharia whatever risks they would face, as experienced by their top leader, Ba'asyir.
The 66-year-old cleric is on trial at the Central Jakarta District Court for his alleged links with Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) blamed for a series of terrorist bombings across Indonesia.
He is specifically charged for inciting followers to perpetrate the October 2002 Bali attacks, in which 202 died, and a deadly blast last year at JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people. If convicted Ba'asyir faces a possible death sentence.
Many suspect that MMI was linked to the regional JI terror network, but authorities could not find legal evidence in this case and Ba'asyir has repeatedly and strongly denied all the charges against him and his organization.
Ba'asyir founded MMI in 1999 after returning home from Malaysia, a year after former president Soeharto's downfall. The MMI central headquarters is located in Surakarta, Central Java, which is also home to his Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school in Ngruki.
Irfan also criticized national leaders, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and top military chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto as well as most Muslims, for having no courage to enforce sharia in the country.
Most Indonesian Muslims have opposed to the campaigned enforcement of sharia in the secular country. Support for the opposition comes from the two nation's largest Islamic organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah.
Present at Saturday's event was MMI central board leader Muhammad Tholib and chairman of the organization's North Sumatra office Heriansyah, as well as their local followers and sympathizers.
Ahead of the inauguration ceremony, MMI Langkat office held a discussion on Ba'asyir's book at the North Sumatra Cultural Park in Medan.