Masyumi rejects Megawati?

Masyumi rejects Megawati?

From Rakyat Merdeka

This newspaper carried in its June 2, 2001 issue, a news
report titled Masyumi rejects Megawati as president. The report
said that according to Abdullah Hehamahua, who spoke in his
capacity as the general chairman of Masyumi (modernist Islamic)
Party, Islam could not accept a woman as president.

This gender issue that Mr. Hehamahua touched upon is outdated
because today Indonesians of various religious persuasions --
Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism -- no longer raise gender
as an issue.

It is true that Muslims form the majority of the Indonesian
population but that does not necessarily mean that this state
belongs absolutely to Muslims. Indonesians professing other
religions also own this state.

Indonesia is not an Islamic state but the Unitary Republic of
Indonesia and is led by a president. Anybody, regardless of their
sex, can be elected president as the only requirement is that
he/she is capable of leading this country and acceptable to all
the ethnic groups across the archipelago.

As Islamic law does not prevail in Indonesia, it is no use
connecting the gender issue with the Koran and Sunnah (Islamic
law based on the teachings and practices of the Prophet
Muhammad).

H. ENGKOS KUSNADI

Sukabumi, West Java