Ismira Lutfia, Dessy Sagita, Dofa Fasila & Zaky Pawas – The chairman of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front denied on Monday that his group would step up attacks on churches and mobilize its members to raid nightclubs, bars, massage parlors and other entertainment spots during Ramadan.

Facing fierce criticism after a string of church attacks blamed on members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), Habib Rizieq said his organization would leave it to the Jakarta authorities to police entertainment establishments during the fasting month.

Rizieq said his group had "never asked that Jakarta be turned into Mecca, we only ask that the city administration implement the 2004 regional bylaw on tourism."

That bylaw requires entertainment venues to close down or limit their hours during Ramadan.

Speaking during a meeting with Fahira Idris, a businesswoman and the daughter of former Industry Minister Fahmi Idris who had sought the FPI leader out, Rizieq said public condemnation of the group was a result of biased media reports.

"Indonesia is not an Islamic country, but it is also not a demonic country. The country's main philosophy is belief in God Almighty, and this is why we want to stamp out gambling, prostitution and other sinful activities," he said.

He also denied his group was involved in the recent attacks on the Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKPB) in Bekasi. Rizieq told Fahira that he "knows nothing about" the incidents, the most recent of which took place on Sunday.

"Islamic teachings are very tolerant and we appreciate diversity and pluralism, but what we oppose is barbarism and atrocity," Rizieq said.

An activist who witnessed Sunday's attack on the Bekasi church quoted local residents as saying the assailants were affiliated with the FPI and had taken part in previous protests against the church.

Fahira said she arranged a meeting with Rizieq to seek answers to questions she gathered over the weekend. On Sunday, she wrote a tweet calling for fellow Twitter users to send her their questions about the FPI.

She said that by 11 a.m. on Monday she had received 500 e-mail messages, which she printed out and brought to her meeting with Rizieq. "I think I have quite accomplished what I came here for," Fahira said after the meeting.

Civil society groups and Islamic scholars have criticized the FPI for violence against Ahmadiyah sect members in Kuningan, West Java, and the attacks on the church in Bekasi.

They have also lashed out at Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo for attempting to enlist the support of the FPI in enforcing the city's bylaw on entertainment spots during Ramadan.

Usman Hamid, from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said by embracing the FPI, Fauzi had only underlined his administration's own failings in law enforcement. "This kind of privatization of illegal security must be canceled," he said.

Ulil Abshar Abdalla, a member of Nahdlatul Ulama, the nation's largest Islamic organization, and the co-founder of the Liberal Islamic Network (JIL), said Fauzi's approach to FPI could be interpreted as legalizing thuggery.

Ulil said that although the police had acted against some members of the FPI for engaging in violence in the past, much more needed to be done.

"We have to do something about [them] before incidents happen, not after," he said, adding that the FPI's track record was filled with violent acts.

Jajang C Noer, an actress and women's rights activist, called the FPI traitors to Islam because "they were hitting people and destroying things while shouting in my God's name."

Separately, Fauzi stressed that he would not tolerate anyone or any group that created chaos in the capital. "I will chase them and hand them over to the authorities," he said.

Siti Musdah Mulia, an Islamic scholar from the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace, said that in the lead-up to Ramadan, her organization had recorded at least four incidents of violence involving FPI members. Musdah added that the government should never tolerate anti-democracy groups.

Fauzi said one way to prevent raids by unauthorized groups was for security officials to ensure the owners of entertainment spots respected the bylaw.