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Clerics Support Police Investigation Into So-Called ‘Sheik’ Who Married Minor
July 29, 2009

Sheikh Puji (Photo: AFP) Sheikh Puji (Photo: AFP)
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Semarang. About 50 Muslim clerics congratulated the Central Java Police on Wednesday afternoon for what they said was a thorough investigation into the marriage of a supposed cleric to a 12-year-old girl.

Pujiono Cahyo Widianto, also known as Sheik Puji, is in police detention pending his trial on a charge of violating the Child Protection Law in connection with his marriage in August last year to Lutfiana Ulfa.

The group of clerics, referred to in Indonesian as ulemas , met the provincial police chief, Insp. Gen. Alex Bambang Triatmojo, at an open meeting at the police headquarters in Semarang.

The group’s spokesman, KH Suyono, a board member at the local Darussalam pesantren , or Islamic boarding school, said the police had the ulemas’ full support in handling the case.

The group expressed their support, he said, because of concerns from other ulemas from outside Java about how a man with the “sheik” title could be involved in such a high-profile case without comment from local clerics.

Suyono said he wanted to clarify that Pujiono had no association to the group and they did not know how he came to obtain the title.

“As far as we know, he has never studied Islam in any pesantren or preached in any Islamic study groups,” Suyono said, adding that the title of sheik was only given to pious Muslims with a deep understanding of Islam and who were renowned for their upstanding behavior.

The ulemas urged the police to follow through with the Pujiono case and let the court decide his guilt or innocence. Whatever the outcome of the trial, the group said the issue should no longer tarnish the image of Islam.

Suyono told the meeting that two kinds of law existed in Indonesia: state law and Islamic law, known as Shariah. Shariah, he said, did not apply to Pujiono in this case so it was important that he be sanctioned under state law.

“What Pujiono has done is a violation of the positive law, which is exploitation of a minor, and the law must be enforced,” Suyono said.

Wednesday’s support for the police was in sharp contrast to scenes this month when Pujiono was arrested for his failure to make his once-weekly report to police pending trial.

Hundreds of Pujiono’s supporters attempted to prevent his arrest by blocking police vehicles and later accused the police of brutality in their handling of the incident.



Antara