Abu Bakar Ba’asyir says the leaders of the country put their souls at risk by not applying Islamic sharia law.

Parliamentarians have agreed to drop the sharia issue while vice president Jusuf Kalla continues to offer his thoughts on the matter.

The attempts by legislators to have Islamic type laws repealed have met with a lukewarm response from the government.

Pressure on the existence of sharia type laws in the provinces grows as fifty-six members of parliament in Jakarta demand their annulment.

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) is the largest Muslim body in the country and is chiefly responsible for the reputation of Indonesia as a place of moderate Islam. Its current leader, Hasyim Muzadi, gives his opinions on the sharia debate.

The campaign to make the island of Madura a stand-alone province, separate from East Java, continues to gather steam. It finds most of its support from conservative Islamic groups and figures.

The growing application of sharia based laws in the province of South Sulawesi, and elsewhere, is bound up in the role of a group called the Preparatory Committee for the Application of Islamic Laws.

Indonesia remains on the “Watch List” in the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom report for 2006.

Syafi’i Anwar, of the International Centre for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP), remarks on the growing demand for sharia based law in provincial areas of Indonesia.

Whether to apply Islamic law to non-Muslims in Aceh.