Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Anis Matta denied rumors that the party was adopting Wahhabism as residents of Sampang, Madura, East Java protested his visit to the area on those and other grounds.

"The PKS does not follow a certain ideology. PKS is a missionary party and a forum to defend the Muslims which consist of various mass organizations, such as Muhammadiyah, NU, and PERSIS," Anis said in Sampang on Monday evening in response to the protest.

The residents rejected to Anis' visit to the area for various reasons. They said they did not want to have a political figure, whose party cadres were involved in a graft cases, because corruption brings misery to the people.

The protestors also called on the provincial government to prevent the Wahhabi ideology from spreading in Sampang in particular, and in Madura in general, because it would stir up trouble among local residents.

The demonstrators said the PKS was a political party using religion as a front, but that it was propagating Wahhabism. "I think the accusation was politically motivated. It's not true that PKS adopts Wahhabism," Anis defended.

Regarding criticism over party cadres being involved in a corruption, Anis said the beef graft case protestors referred to had nothing to do with the party, and only involved the party's former chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq.

"Nevertheless, should the court find Luthfi guilty, we as the functionaries, will apologize to the public," Anis explained.

Wahhabism is the ultra-conservative branch of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia. The movement was pioneered by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792) on the Arabian peninsula.

Some Islamic scholars say the spread of Wahhabism is responsible for rising religious intolerance and violence in generally moderate Indonesia. It is therefore contradictory to peaceful Islamic teachings because of the extremism it espouses.