Mulsim cleric to sue Singapore government

Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is surrounded by guards and lawyers upon arrival at a Jakarta court

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- An Indonesian Muslim cleric has filed a $100 million slander suit against the Singapore government.

Abu Bakar Bashir heads the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), a group that campaigns for the enactment of Islamic law in Indonesia.

Last month, the Singaporean Foreign Ministry released a statement that named Bashir as the ring leader of a regional terrorist group with links to al Qaeda.

On Thursday, Bashir's lawyers filed the one trillion rupiah slander suit against the Singapore embassy in Jakarta.

"This suit is because Lee Kuan Yew's statement is deemed to have insulted the nation of Indonesia, Muslims, Islam as this country is regarded as a place where terrorists roam freely when in truth the so-called terrorists are Muslim warriors," said Bashir.

There has been no official reply from Singapore.

Questioned by police

Bashir has been twice questioned by Indonesian police over his alleged ties with terrorists groups. The police said they found no evidence to arrest him.

"Let it be known that Indonesia now greatly values human rights following reforms, unlike Malaysia and Singapore. There they have the Internal Security Act (ISA) where they can arrest people arbitrarily," Bashir told CNN in an interview.

"Indonesia does not have the ISA and therefore cannot arrest people without proof. This has been said by the head of police himself."

"Therefore Indonesia is far better, far more democratic than either Malaysia or Singapore," Bashir said.

The ISA, a relic of the British colonial rule, allows for detention without trial for up to two years, of anyone deemed to be a threat to the country's national security.

Indonesia has been criticised for its reluctance to act against militant groups despite several countries, including the U.S., providing intelligence evidence that some of those groups have been infiltrated by al Qaeda's international terrorist network.

Regional arrests

Since December, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines have arrested scores of people believed to be members of an Islamic militant group, Jemaah Islamiah, with possible links to al Qaeda.

The governments allege that Jemaah Islamiah is at the heart of regional terrorism which aims to attack American facilities and to topple the current secular governments to set up Islamic states.

Bashir was jailed in 1978, during former President Suharto's rule, for fighting to set up an Islamic state in the country. After his release, he went to Malaysia in 1985 and returned in 1999 following Suharto's ousting.

In Malaysia, four Indonesians currently detained as terror suspects said they knew Bashir and that he was slated to lead Jemaah Islamiah when its leader died.

Bashir has admitted knowing the detainees but only on a casual basis.

"I know one or two of them because they attended my sermons in Malaysia ," he said.

Upholding Islam

Bashir said he had no links with al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden but had been accused of being a terrorist because he shared the same beliefs as bin Laden.

"I have no ties with al Qaeda .... but I share a common belief with Osama to defend and uphold Islam and therefore I am linked to terrorism," said Bashir.

Bashir said he believed Indonesian authorities had questioned him because they were "pressured from the outside, especially from America".

"I was asked for confirmation because the police had received news from Singapore and Malaysia ... they treated me well," he said.

Indonesian police said Bashir had not violated any laws in the country.

"But the police are still investigating and monitoring his activities in the field," Saleh Saaf, national police spokesman, told CNN.

"The police have no conclusion that he is allied to al Qaeda for now. But tomorrow, I don't know," Saaf added.