Gus Dur blasts MUI directive

Gus Dur blasts MUI directive

JAKARTA (JP): More flak has greeted the election guidelines
issued by the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), with leading
Muslim politician Abdurrahman Wahid proposing on Thursday that
the council be disbanded.

Speaking on the sidelines of a National Awakening Party (PKB)
campaign in Ambon, Maluku, Abdurrahman criticized MUI for
exceeding its role as a religious institution by advising Muslims
to vote for Muslim-based parties in the June 7 polls.

Another Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, issued the same
election guidelines on Wednesday.

Political analysts Mochtar Mas'oed and Muhammad A.S. Hikam
also panned MUI's move, but believed it would not negatively
affect voter support for the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

Many, including Abdurrahman and Hikam, believe the call is
intending to undermine PDI Perjuangan, the nationalist-secular
party led by Megawati Soekarnoputri which is considered the
strongest contender in next week's polls.

Of 48 parties contesting the elections, at least 12 claim to
represent Muslim interests. PKB, which was founded by
Abdurrahman, does not adopt Islam as its basis although it relies
heavily on support from Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's
largest Muslim group. Abdurrahman, who is better known as Gus
Dur, is NU chairman.

Long a critic of MUI, Abdurrahman accused it of meddling in
political affairs.

"MUI will move to the brink of disaster if it involves itself
in political affairs. There are already a lot of political
parties, so why should MUI act as a political institution? My
suggestion is we should rather disband it."

He said PKB would not withdraw its support of Megawati's
presidential bid although he realized many Muslim groups could
not recognize a female head of government. PKB formally named
Abdurrahman its presidential candidate.

"If PKB wins the elections, we will form a Cabinet comprising
17 experts and we will pick PDI Perjuangan figure Kwik Kian Gie,"
Abdurrahman said.

Hikam acknowledged that MUI's statement discouraged democracy,
but he believed the public was well aware of the organization's
past backing of those in power.

"The appeal will only backfire, with many suspecting that MUI
is merely serving as a political vehicle of status quo forces,"
said Hikam, who is from the National Institute of Sciences.

Mochtar of Gadjah Mada University said in Yogyakarta the
guidelines would not sway Muslims as they prepared to vote.

"It's only a moral call which will not receive a positive
response from most Muslims in the country. The statement is
apparently aimed at drawing Muslims' sympathy, but for me it is
overblown."

Both Hikam and Mochtar said PDI Perjuangan would suffer few
losses from the statement because much of its support was from
loyalists.

"Perhaps the call could decrease, albeit a little, the share
of the vote of parties which do not adopt Islam as principles but
depend largely on Muslims, like PKB and the National Mandate
Party (PAN)," Mochtar said.

His Gadjah Mada University colleague, Cornelis Lay, concurred,
saying the MUI's statement was too late to change voter patterns.

"The call could have influenced Muslim voters, who mostly are
considered the 'floating mass', had it been issued three or four
months ago. Now people don't care about what others say about
their own parties," Cornelis said.

Valina Singka Subekti, head of the political science
laboratory at the University of Indonesia's School of Social and
Political Sciences, believed the call would most probably affect
votes for PDI Perjuangan. She said the extent, however, was
difficult to gauge.

"PDI Perjuangan came out as the most popular in our poll, like
in the other polls, although the poll was only in cities."

She said the action would most likely influence urban
intellectuals with higher political awareness, compared to most
of PDI Perjuangan supporters at the grassroots level.

PDI Perjuangan deputy chairman Kwik was unfazed even though 90
percent of the party's prospective voters are Muslims.

"I'm pretty sure they will not change their minds," Kwik said
after attending campaigning in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

He said MUI was an organization entitled to converse with the
Muslim community, but Muslims were free to make their own ballot
choices. (44/48/anr/amd)