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Muslim Leader Says Megawati Must Introduce Shari'a Law If Elected
JAKARTA, July 16 (News Agencies) - A Muslim leader warned Monday that if Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri became Indonesian president, she would have to make major concessions to Islamic interests or soon lose the vital support of Muslim parties.
These demands would include such things as the introduction of Islamic-based Shari'a law, he said.
Megawati is widely expected to replace the unpopular President Abdurrahman Wahid, if he is impeached during hearings set to begin on August 1.
An alliance of Muslim parties, who in 1999 threw their vote behind Wahid to deny Megawati the presidency because of her gender, have now done an about-face and are eagerly pushing for her to replace Wahid.
The alliance, known as the Central Axis, has pledged not to turn against her if they get rid of Wahid, guaranteeing support for her presidency until the next elections in 2004.
But, Eggy Sujana, who heads the conservative Indonesian Islamic Workers' Brotherhood and is a member of Central Axis party "The Crescent Star," predicted support could be short-lived.
"The so-called 'permanent coalition' between the Central Axis and Megawati's party to fight Gus Dur (Wahid's nickname) will not last," Sujana told the French news agency AFP.
"Support for Megawati will not be much different to the support for Gus Dur in the beginning, which was based on emotion. Our ideological backgrounds are clearly different."
Sujana went on to say that the only way Megawati could escape the same fate as Wahid would be to accept Muslim interests.
He said the Central Axis should include in its 'bargaining position' demands that Megawati fill her cabinet with Muslim party members or nominees and also introduce Islamic Shari'a law, "either nationally or through regional autonomy."
Megawati "must be able to accommodate Muslim groups who have always openly rejected having a woman president", Sujana said.
Spearheaded by Wahid's bitter foe, national assembly chairman Amien Rais, the loose Central Axis alliance accounts for almost a quarter of seats in the parliament's lower house.
Wahid began to lose the support of Central Axis parties when he advocated opening trade relations with Israel and lifting a 35-year old ban on communism.
The Muslim parties have been at the forefront of moves to impeach Wahid, the country's first democratically elected president.
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