PPP wants male, Muslim president

JAKARTA (JP): The national leadership meeting of the United Development Party (PPP) recommended on Tuesday that only a male Muslim be eligible for the presidency.

"The fatwa of PPP's board of ulema says that the Indonesian president is the best Indonesian Muslim son," PPP's deputy chairman, Tosari Wijaya, told Antara.

The United Development Party, one of the few established parties among the 48 parties contesting the polls, as of late Tuesday was in fourth place in the provisional results. It had obtained 4.2 million votes from about 50 percent of some 117 million votes tallied by the General Elections Commission.

Well before the campaign period started, the PPP reverted to its original Kaaba symbol to assert its Muslim identity.

Controversy regarding the gender of the future president is seen as belittling the presidential aspirations of chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), which had obtained 16.4 million votes by late Tuesday.

Muslim groups have also stated concerns regarding deflection of their aspirations if PDI Perjuangan wins the polls, as the party reportedly has many non-Muslims fielded as legislative candidates.

Tosari, however, declined to divulge PPP's presidential candidate, saying the criteria for the position were still under discussion.

"We'll only reveal our candidate at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) session on the presidential election," he said.

PPP secretary-general Alimarwan Hanan said its leadership meeting called on the people to consider aspirations of the Muslim majority in nominating and electing their president.

"For the sake of the nation's integrity, all elements of the nation must not neglect the aspiration of the majority of Indonesian Muslims," he said.

Many Muslims are also among PDI Perjuangan supporters.

Muslim groups

Also on Tuesday, a gathering of Muslim groups concluded their meeting by issuing a statement reiterating their support for incumbent President B.J. Habibie.

Chairman of the Association of Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) Achmad Tirtosudiro said after the meeting: "We have to be ikhlas (wholehearted), not only if PDI Perjuangan wins the elections, but also if Habibie is reelected as president."

Present at the meeting were representatives from the influential Muslim organizations of Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama and the Association of Islamic Students (HMI).

Both the PPP meeting and that of the Muslim groups, emphasized that whichever party was successful in the polls should heed Muslim aspirations.

The meeting initiated by ICMI, formerly chaired by Habibie, did not state a position on the gender of the next president, and left the criteria of the president to the General Session of the MPR.

Electing the president will be the main agenda at the session scheduled to take place in November.

Commenting on the possible relegation of Muslim parties, Achmad said: "I cannot imagine if the minority groups dominate and play an influential role in the deliberation and the establishment of the laws... It's unthinkable."

He did not explicitly name any specific party, but added: "How can we respect other religious worshipers if the Indonesian Muslim community's aspiration is neglected?"

In Yogyakarta, political lecturer Cornelis Lay said PDI Perjuangan should seriously accommodate Muslim political forces.

"Megawati cannot assume she can build a new Indonesia except by accommodating Muslim forces, and the opposite also applies," he said.

In Padang, West Sumatra, a founder of the Islamic Community Party (PUI), Mochtar Naim, also said all Muslim parties who would lose in the elections should support Habibie as the country's next president.

He told Antara that his recommendation was based on the fact that the Golkar Party, which has nominated Habibie as its candidate despite different opinions in its party, has pledged to "reform" itself.

The "enemies" of Muslim parties were Golkar and PDI Perjuangan, he said. "However after observing provisional results of the poll it would be better for Muslim parties to unite with Golkar rather than PDI Perjuangan," the noted cultural observer said.(imn)