By Slobodan Lekic
Associated Press Writer 10/21/2002

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia's moderate Muslim organizations demanded Monday that authorities crack down on religious extremists, who they said represent a fringe minority among the country's 170 million Muslims.

Former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said he believed that Abu Bakar Bashir, the cleric believed to be the leader of a group suspected in last week's Bali bombing, should have been arrested long ago.

"I believe that Bashir is a terrorist," Wahid said in a radio interview.

Wahid, who was replaced as head of state by Megawati Sukarnoputri last year, has been sharply critical of her administration's cautious approach toward radicals.

Wahid's organization, Nahdlatul Ulama — whose 40 million members make it the world's largest Muslim grouping — and the 30-million member Muhammadiyah both urged the government to act more decisively against small groups of militants such as Jemaah Islamiyah, which is suspected in the Oct. 12 nightclub bombing in Bali that killed more than 180 people and injured 300.

Their leaderships say that groups like Jemaah Islamiyah or Laskar Jihad — a recently disbanded paramilitary gang blamed for waging a religious war against the Christian minority in the Maluku islands — are a tiny minority in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation.

Megawati has already signed an emergency decree that allows terrorist suspects to be detained for up to six months without charge, but religious moderates have called for even tougher anti-terrorist legislation.

"We badly need such regulations to prevent terrorist attacks," said Hazim Muzadi, Nahdlatul Ulama's chairman. "All countries have similar laws."

Their calls came as authorities considered how to interrogate the ailing Bashir, who was arrested on Saturday in his hometown of Solo, about 250 miles east of Jakarta.

One of his lawyers, Djoko Trisno Widodo, said the arrest warrant listed Bashir's alleged involvement in a series of church bombings two years ago and a reported plot to assassinate Megawati.

"We will sue the police for wrongful arrest," he said.

Bashir, who has been in hospital since Friday for breathing and heart problems, denies any links with terrorism.

Several dozen Islamic students continued their vigil Monday outside the hospital. They have vowed to block police from removing the 64-year-old cleric from the hospital before he recovers. Armed policemen stood by.

Bashir's doctors said Monday they had formed a three-man team — consisting of a cardiologist, a lung specialist and an internist — to monitor his condition. They said they could not predict when Bashir will be released.

"His age is a factor in how quickly he will recover," said Dr. Suradi, one of the doctors.

Police are considering confining Bashir to Solo under police supervision, or taking him to a police hospital in Jakarta and holding him there.

In Bali, Gen. Edward Aritonang, a national police spokesman, said authorities believed there was no link between the nightclub attack and a grenade blast near the office of the honorary U.S. consul in Bali at about the same time. There were no casualties in the grenade attack.

The investigation — conducted jointly by more than 100 investigators from Indonesia, Australia, the United States, Britain and other countries — was proceeding well, Aritonang said.

Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.