Faith vs democracy?

Faith vs democracy?

Can or cannot a woman become the president of Indonesia? To
most people this question is ludicrous in its absurdity.
Indonesia is a democratic republic and equality before law,
without regard of race, creed or gender, is one of the main
pillars of democracy. Indonesia's Constitution guarantees that,
"without any exception, all citizens shall have equal positions
in law and government and shall be obliged to uphold the law and
government". Furthermore, Indonesia ratified the 1953 United
Nations Convention on the Political Rights of Women and the 1979
Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Yet, this is precisely the question that is keeping millions
of Indonesians occupied at the moment. The logical question is;
Why? The answer is that the secular-nationalist Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), whose leader and
presidential candidate, Megawati Soekarnoputri, is a woman.

Many Muslim ulemas and politicians of rival political parties
have insisted that Islam does not allow a woman to be in a
position of leadership in society. It must be stressed, though,
that this is by no means the stance Muslims in Indonesia are
taking. Muslim ulemas coming from Java, Sumatra, Bali and the
eastern Indonesian islands during the past weekend, for example,
said they would support whoever was democratically elected to
become the nation's president. This is not to mention the vast
majority of nominal Muslims -- the abangan -- who don't care
whether the country is led by a man or a woman, as long as their
welfare is taken care of.

In the meantime, support for Megawati from non-Muslim quarters
is increasing. Many Indonesians suspect that the argument for
rejecting Megawati on religious grounds is simply a cover
employed by rival political parties to get her out of the way by
whatever means available. Muslim leaders have pointed out that
there is nothing in either the Koran or hadith (traditions) that
specifically forbids women from becoming state or political
leaders. Given that the Muslim-based parties are so far trailing
in the vote count following the June 7 ballot, and that the two
leading parties -- Megawati's PDI Perjuangan and Golkar -- are
both nationalist/secular parties, this is an argument that cannot
be simply dismissed.

Standing in the middle of the controversy is Muslim scholar
Nurcholish Madjid, whose ever-rational stance is that Indonesians
must learn to accept whatever decision the nation's highest
policy-making institution, the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR), makes. "It has to be that way," he said at a lecture on
Batam Island, "or we will never learn to resolve our problems."

For Indonesians, whether they like it or not, it seems the
moment has come to choose whether they want to become a modern
democracy or stay faithful to entrenched traditions, religious or
otherwise. In this case gender discrimination, at least, the two
are mutually incompatible. The choice, however difficult, has to
be made. It is, after all, preposterous that Indonesia is still
struggling on a question of whether or not a woman can lead the
country while the nation is poised to enter the third millennium.