Ma'ruf Amin: Call for MUI Dissolution Is Irrational

jpnn.com, JAKARTA - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has responded to the call to disband the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) amid alleged involvement of its members in terrorism.

Ma'ruf assessed that the call was very irrational.

"Recently, there is a group of people that wants the MUI to be dissolved. This demand is very irrational," said Ma'ruf in his statement in Jakarta, Tuesday (23/11).

He explained that the MUI was a religious community consisting of more than 60 Islamic organizations, within which were various scholars and Islamic clerics.

"This means that the MUI is an organization that gathers and represent mass organizations and great leaders, and in its principles, they are government partners, who are also serving the community," said the chairman of the MUI Advisory Council.

Regarding terrorism, Ma'ruf said that the MUI had long had a fatwa that considered terrorism an unlawful act.

He stated that this fatwa had been used as a reference for various counter-terrorism and eradication efforts.

Ma'ruf conveyed this in response to the arrest of MUI Fatwa Commission member Ahmad Zain An-Najah, along with two other suspected terrorists, by the National Police's anti-terrorism squad (Densus 88) in Bekasi, West Java, last Tuesday (16/11).