Candidates told to stop politicizing religions

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 07/03/2009 8:53 AM  |  Presidential Election

Inter-religious leaders: Chairman of the Center for Dialogue and Cooperation among Civilisations (CDCC) Din Syamsudin (center,holding microphone) converses with inter-religious leaders at a press conference at the CDCC building in Jakarta on Thursday. During the press meeting the leaders from various religious organizations urged religious followers in Indonesia to help make the upcoming July 8 presidential election a success. JP/J. Adiguna

Presidential hopefuls and their campaign teams need to start playing it smart and stop politicizing religions, religious leaders say.

“In many campaign presentations, religions are used as a political commodity,” chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council, Amidhan, said after a closed meeting between religious leaders in Jakarta on Thursday.

The leaders gathered to urge candidates to refrain from underhanded campaigning and to play it fair and campaign their programs instead.

“Smart voters will not vote for candidates that use religions as a commodity; they will vote for ones who offer the best programs for the country,” Amidhan said.

Reverend Richard Daulay from the Indonesian Communion of Churches said politicizing religions could turn for the worst.

“It may trigger conflicts.”

As the July 8 election draws near, the race to win the place as the first person in the country has started to pick up the pace. And the campaigning is getting uglier.

Only days ago, a campaign rally of presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla in Medan, North Sumatra, saw mysterious pamphlets being distributed among the attendees.

The pamphlets said the wife of Boediono, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s running mate, was a Catholic, not a Muslim.

The incident not only triggered many heated public debates, but also talks of filing of libel charges with the police.                                                                                

Yudhoyono’s team spokesman Rizal Mallarangeng threatened to bring the issue to the police and file a libel suit against Kalla.

Kalla’s team, however, said that they were innocent and had no idea about the pamphlets and would file a libel suit against Rizal instead.

Amidhan said whoever was responsible for the distribution of the pamphlets was only playing into the hands of the victimized side: SBY-Boediono.

“The victim can take advantage of it.”

An analyst from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), Burhanuddin Muhtadi, said candidates were not learning from history.

“Experience says that voters do not put high concern on religious issues. In 1999, Megawati Soekarnoputri was said to be a Hindu, but her party won the legislative elections. The same thing happened in 2004, when SBY’s wife was said to be a Christian, but then he won the presidential election,” he told The Jakarta Post via text message Wednesday night.

Chairman of Indonesia’s second largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah, Din Syamsuddin, urged candidates to apply the ethics of both religion and politics in campaigning.

“They should adopt some manners in this competition.” (adh/hdt)

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