Indonesian cleric seeks 'Allahcracy'

JAKARTA, July 30 (UPI) -- The leader of the Indonesian Mujahedeen Council says he wants to convert Indonesia into an "Allahcracy," it was reported Sunday.

Abu Bakar Bashir, 68, free after serving two years in jail for his role in a bombing of two nightclubs in Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people, tells the Sunday Times of London that Islamist bombings "are reactions by Muslims to defend themselves."

"The democratic system is not the Islamic way," he says. "It is forbidden. Democracy is based on people, but the state must be based on God's law. I call it Allahcracy."

Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, does not embrace Bashir's ideas, the newspaper says. Fundamentalist parties have failed to win significant support and Islamists are trying to advance their agenda by pressuring politicians to adopt elements of Islamic law.

"George Bush is trying to rot Islam from within," Bashir said, "and America is attacking Indonesian Muslims -- with ideas. That's why I'm fighting America -- but only with preaching and ideas, of course."