Muslim parties told to be inclusive to win votes
Muslim parties told to be inclusive to win votes
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Muslim-based political parties in this predominantly Muslim
country have never won the general election, as they fail to
promote issues inclusive of the general population, observers
asserted on Saturday.
They criticized the parties for being "narrow-minded" in their
insistence on the implementation of sharia. This might win the
hearts (and votes) of traditional supporters, but had not been
attracting non-traditional Muslims, or non-Muslims, who hold a
larger number of votes.
"Learning from experience, the parties must now realize that
Indonesia, even the Muslim community itself, is pluralistic in
nature," secretary general of the Alumni Family of the Muslim
Student Association (KAHMI) Erlangga told a discussion here.
The discussion on, "the Prospect of Muslim-based Political
Parties Ahead of the 2004 General Elections," was held at the
private Tarumanagara University in West Jakarta.
Muslim-based political parties are represented by, among
others, the United Development Party (PPP), the Crescent and Star
Party (PBB), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Masyumi Party
and the Community Awakening Party (PKU). They won 86 out of 500
House of Representatives seats between them in the 1999
elections.
Muslims make up around 90 percent of Indonesia's population.
"There must be something wrong with the Muslim-based political
parties," said another speaker in the discussion Adhyaksa Dault,
a former chairman of the National Youth Committee (KNPI) who has
now joined PPP.
Adhyaksa said the fight for sharia had already been proven
counterproductive.
Instead of winning support, party-strategies have raised the
perception that Islam is exclusive and unfriendly and forced both
non-Muslims and peripheral Muslims to distance themselves from
Muslim-based parties, Erlangga said.
"In order to win the 2004 election, it is timely for these
parties to address inclusive and real issues, such as corruption,
poverty and unemployment so that they can target a larger group
of voters," said Erlangga.
Although spearheaded by Muslim figures, the National Awakening
Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) are known to
have a more open ideology. Perhaps, thanks to this "openness",
they won 14 percent of the House seats in their debut in the 1999
polls.
Secular parties have always emerged as election winners since
1955, when Indonesia held its first general election.
PBB deputy chairman Hamdan Zoelva blamed the past regime for
discouraging Muslim parties.
In five general elections held under the New Order between
1971 and 1997, Muslim-based political parties did not pass the 30
percent benchmark of House seats.
The fall of Soeharto's regime in 1998 did not give Muslim-
based parties an edge, however.