Letters: Mixing politics and religion

Fri, 07/10/2009 4:15 PM  |  Reader's Forum

The result of the 2009 presidential election has shown that Indonesia does not approve of candidates who mix politics with religion.

Jusuf Kalla and Wiranto thought that by showing their wives wearing Islamic attire, they would get the advantage. They must have lost a great portion of the Golkar votes from the April election and made gains only from the Islamic parties.

They forgot as well that the majority of Indonesians still identify most with their rich Asian culture and that foreign imports like Middle Eastern and Western culture are not suitable for this country.

The accusations that Boediono does not have enough Islamic credentials or that that his wife is not a Muslim have backfired.

If it is true that Boediono leans more towards Indonesian Islam (Kejawen) than Middle Eastern Islam, then this only speaks for him as being a defender of the Indonesian culture, while those promoting values of the Middle East and western culture are actually offending our culture.

It is now up to SBY-Boediono to avoid making concessions to the religious coalition partners, otherwise the Democratic Party will disappear from the picture in the 2014 elections, when SBY will not be able to run again for president, which will play into the hands of Prabowo.

Herdi Seno
Jakarta

Comments (1)  |   Post comment
A  |   A  |   A  |   Mail to a friend  |  Printer Friendly Version |  Digg it!  |  Add to Del.icio.us!  |  Add to Reddit!  |  Stumble it!   |  Share on facebook  

Graffin (not verified) — Sat, 07/11/2009 - 12:42pm

Ah, shame on you herdi seno!

Don't you see that Jusuf Kalla suffered from lost because Golkar is having internal conflict, engaging Jusuf Kalla and Akbad Tandjung?

Don't you see that Prosperous Justice Party plays very significant roles in the Democratic party's coalition?

Don't you see that Prosperous Justice Party and SBY have agreed to "share the power"?

What's On

more
more