Magetan, Indonesia  - Hundreds of Islamic scholars in Indonesia's East Java province met Thursday to discuss a ruling on online activity, including the use of popular social networking sites such as Facebook.

Indonesians are increasingly using sites such as Facebook and Friendster to get in touch with each other as the internet is becoming more accessible and less costly.

Muslim clerics are worried such activity could lead to illicit extra-marital affairs, said the head of the East Java branch of the Indonesian Council of Muslim Scholars, Abdussomad Buchori.

"The council will never ban the use of the internet as long it is used as a medium for positive information, but we object if its use leads to illicit sexual behaviour and indecency," Buchori said.

The clerics were expected to conclude the meeting Friday with guidelines on online networking. Any ruling by the clerics would not be legally binding in the world's most populous Muslim, but officially secular, nation.

Facebook is the most popular website in Indonesia, followed by the local versions of Google and Yahoo, according to website tracker Alexa.(dpa)