Thousands of Indonesian Muslims gather during a rally against Jakarta's minority Christian Governor Basuki (Photo: AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)
Seven alumni of December 2, 2016rally, or aptly named the 212 rally, declared the establishment of Sharia Party on Monday. The party was formed with the aim of building an Islamic and clean parliament.
"We have to build the parliament. We should play the parliamentary [role] through an Islamic party," said Ma'ruf Halimuddin, one of the initiators of the Sharia Party at Juang 45 Building, Jakarta, Monday.
Ma'aruf then said the party was initated by seven alumni of 212 rally and is led by Ratu Asmah Agung, a preacher in business, social and religious fields. Since it was established a month ago, the party have been using the money donated by 212 rally participants to finance the party's operation.
"We're keen to build an Islamic party because many parties have no longer hold much Islamic values," said Ma'aruf.
Ma'aruf also said that being a Muslim is the main requirement to join the Shariah Party.
"So, it's [filled by] 1000 percent pure Muslim people," said Ma'aruf.
Ma'aruf expected that the presence of Sharia Party could inspire other rally alumni to establish a similar party. The goal is to put more Muslim on the parliament and government. "Hopefully, this will continue in 2018 or 2019. There will be other parties and I expect five to six more Islamic parties [to be founded]," he added.
According to Ma'aruf, the existence of mass organizations wouldn't be enough to spread the power of Islam, especially after the government disbanded several Islamic-based mass organizations.
"We're from Sharia Party to invite people not to play from the mass organizations only. Today, we have to move on to political party to win the parliament," said Ma'aruf.
The declaration was also attended by dozens of 212 rallymembers from across the provinces. The party has planned to hold a national leadership meeting in the near future.
(brl/red)
