V

ice President Jusuf Kalla and Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin have criticized the country's highest Islamic authority for issuing a fatwa against those who choose not to vote in the upcoming elections.

At the Indonesian Embassy in the United States capital of Washington DC, Kalla said to around 100 Indonesian guests that the edict handed down by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) banning vote abstention was "not proper", tempointeraktif.com reported.

"Both Pak Din and myself cannot work out why the MUI issued such an extreme fatwa," said Kalla, who also heads the largest political party in Indonesia, the Golkar Party.

Such a ruling, he said, carried serious religious consequences.

"If they deem the act of not voting as haram (forbidden in Islam), it means all those who abstain from casting ballots will go to hell. I am not sure what Pak Alwi Shihab's opinion is on this issue," Kalla said.

Alwi, a former chief welfare minister currently serving as Indonesia's special envoy to the Middle East, smiled upon hearing the Vice President's question.

Din voiced a similar criticism against the edict and the MUI while in Washington on Wednesday, although he did not attend the same function as Kalla.

Din, also deputy chairman of MUI's central board, urged the ulema council to exercise restraint in issuing fatwas.

"I feel the MUI doesn't know how to prioritize issues. Vote abstention does not require a fatwa. The MUI should be encouraging the public to participate in the general elections but in this way," he told tempointeraktif.com.

"This ruling is not based on sound judgment, and it's clear the MUI has not considered it in terms of its legal priority," he added.

Din said he played no role in determining the edict or any others that were recently announced.

"Many *Indonesians* know the majority of MUI's fatwa commission members are from Nahdlatul Ulama *NU*," he said. NU is the nation's dominant conservative Sunni Islam organization.

Din urged the MUI to issue edicts on issues of real importance, such as combating corruption among public officials and improving productivity.

Last week, Din recommended the council be "wise" and factor in the concerns and sentiments of the public when formulating edicts in the future.