Margareth S. Aritonang and Indah Setiawati, Jakarta – Despite repeated calls for its disbandment, the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) celebrated its 15th anniversary on Sunday with a street rally on the capital's streets, while mulling over the presidential candidacy of its leader, Rizieq Shihab.

Sunday's rally wrapped up a three-day national meeting by the firebrand organization, during which the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and key members floated the idea of Rizieq's presidential bid.

"God willing, if Habib Rizieq declares his intention, Muslims around the country will support him," MUI chairman Cholil Ridwan said. Rizieq shrugged off the proposal, saying it was merely media spin.

On Sunday, Rizieq spoke to members of the FPI at the group's headquarters in Petamburan, Central Jakarta, where he made a fresh call for the dissolution of the National Police's Densus 88 counterterrorism squad and expressed the group's opposition to the Miss World beauty pageant, which is expected to take place in Bali next month.

Rizieq warned that the FPI would take all necessary measures to prevent the Miss World beauty pageant from taking place, calling the pageant an insult to the country's indigenous culture, local wisdom and sharia (Islamic law).

Rizieq said that Densus 88 and other counterterrorism agencies in the country, including the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), were prone to human rights abuses.

"They have on several occasions arrested, shot or killed the wrong people. Therefore, we will continue to call for the squad's disbandment. We will declare Densus 88 the common enemy to all Muslims if the government continues to ignore us," he added.

Officially established by a number of local religious figures and Muslim activists in Jakarta in August 1998, the FPI has regularly been associated with violence as its members have frequently conducted regular raids in places deemed to be promoting blasphemy or immorality, while the country's authorities have rarely taken action against the group.

The organization currently has more than 50,000 members. Members of the group's branch in Temanggung, Central Java, for example, clashed with residents in Sukorejo, Kendal, when conducting a sweep in the village's red-light area last July, killing one pregnant woman and injuring three other locals.

On Saturday, the National Police and the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) called for the FPI to conduct a peaceful march to celebrate its anniversary.

Members of the organization appeared to have followed the order. Dressed in white Muslim attire, the FPI members only carried white flags and giant Betawi effigies on motorbikes, trucks and buses as they left the organization's headquarters on Jl. Petamburan III.

"Thank God we are not taking the same route as the convoy," said a Transjakarta bus attendant, who encountered the FPI rally on Saturday.