Only one Islamic party necessary

Only one Islamic party necessary

From Republika

Two Islamic parties have recently been established, one led by a noted preacher and the other founded by a politician who has lived through three eras. I think this phenomenon isn't something we should feel grateful for. I am apprehensive, instead. God willing, many others will share my concern. Why? The answer is that founding a new party, particularly if it is only a splinter group, means that we did not learn any lessons from the previous general election, where the Muslim vote was split between dozens of parties and the best an Islamic party could do was to garner the third-most number of votes.

Muslims should think about how to unite the existing Islamic parties into just one or, temporarily, two parties, and should not be in a hurry to establish new parties to contest the 2004 general election.

We should not form parties that will only be able to take part in the next elections and win just one or two seats in the House of Representatives. We should calculate how an Islamic party can be absolutely triumphant in the next elections, and then our wish to put Islamic law, syariah, into effect will come to pass.

KH A CHOLIL RIDWAN

Jakarta