Survey finds Muslim voters favor pluralism

Survey finds Muslim voters favor pluralism

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Muslim voters in Indonesia tend to favor moderate, pluralistic
and democratic parties rather than those parties fighting for
Islamic law or an Islamic state, a poll conducted by the
Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) found.

The survey was conducted by the LSI between Aug. 1 and Aug. 20
and involved 2,240 respondents, of which 89.1 percent, or 1,996,
were Muslim.

Of the Muslim respondents, 49.8 percent, or 994, categorized
themselves as devout.

Over 51 percent of the devout Muslims said in the 2004
elections they would vote for secular, nationalist-oriented
parties, represented by Golkar (34.6 percent) and the Indonesian
Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) (14 percent),
while 21.4 percent preferred parties that are steadfast in
struggling for sharia, namely the United Development Party (PPP),
the Crescent and Star Party (PBB) and the Prosperous Justice
Party (PKS).

Among the 1,002 secular Muslim respondents, 38.9 percent
favored Golkar and 30.5 percent picked PDI Perjuangan, compared
to 11.2 percent for PPP and 7.8 percent for the National
Awakening Party (PKB), a political party that claims to represent
traditionalist Muslim group Nahdlatul Ulama.

The survey also found that a coalition of PKB, PKS and the
National Mandate Party (PAN), which would emulate the Axis
Force's success in foiling PDI Perjuangan chairwoman Megawati
Soekarnoputri's presidential bid in 1999, had the support of just
one-third of devout Muslim respondents and 16.2 percent of
secular Muslim respondents.

The PKB, PKS and PAN had the support of 19.2 percent of the
total number of respondents, the poll revealed. When it came to
supporters of parties that clearly fight for sharia -- PPP, PBB
and PKS -- the level of support fell as low as 14 percent,
according to the survey.

"The (Muslim-based) parties do not have enough support to win
the majority of the vote in the 2004 elections," Denny J.A. of
LSI said on Tuesday.

The current behavior of Muslim voters is in stark contrast to
those who participated in the landmark 1955 elections where
Islamic parties that struggled for sharia won 45 percent of the
total vote, the survey noted. Similar voting behavior was
reflected in the results of the 1999 elections.

It said Muslim leaders like PAN chairman Amien Rais and PBB
chairman Yusril Ihza Mahendra were less popular than nationalist
figures like Coordinating Minister for Political and Security
Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with Muslim voters.

According to the survey, Susilo topped the list with 13
percent of support from devout Muslim voters, followed by
Megawati with 11.6 percent, Abdurrahman Wahid of PKB with 11.1
percent, PPP chairman Hamzah Haz with 9.2 percent, and Yusril and
Amien with 7.9 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively.

The survey differentiated between devout Muslims and secular
Muslims by the frequency with which they prayed, fasted, read the
Koran and attended religious discussions and mass prayers.

LSI researchers found that the three decades of authoritarian
rule under former president Soeharto played a pivotal role in
suppressing the demand for sharia in the country.

They also discovered that moderate and pluralistic thinking
had emerged in the country's two largest Muslim organizations,
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah.

There is a common understanding among NU and Muhammadiyah
leaders and activists that Islam is compatible with democracy and
does not require an Islamic state, they added.

Moderate Muslim scholars also played an important role in
creating the present situation, including Nurcholish Madjid,
Abdurrahman Wahid and the Liberal Muslim Network, the survey
said.

It also underlined the presence of extremist groups that the
researchers labeled as "anti-democracy and anti-nationalism", but
they accounted for less than 2 percent of the country's
population of 214 million.

"They are not only Muslim groups but non-Muslim groups as
well," the survey said. Extremism, it conclude, is not the
characteristic of developing countries like Indonesia.