On abstentions

On abstentions

From Media Indonesia

It really is ungentlemanly for a number of those belonging to the country's political elite to encourage their followers not to vote in the second round of the presidential election.

This is especially true when such a call is made on the grounds that neither of the two candidates to compete in the second round of the election is "proper" in terms of the Islamic moral perspective and the interests of Muslims. We know that all five of the candidates contesting the presidential election are Muslim.

Those urging their followers not to vote must show a better attitude by magnanimously accepting the fact that their candidates failed to make it to the second round of the presidential election. Otherwise, they will prove themselves to be irresponsible and undemocratic.

Even if allegedly illegal practices in the first round of the election are used as the reason for the call to abstain in the second round, it remains an act that is neither fair nor gentlemanly.

YUDHA ADITYA

Jakarta