An Indonesian Muslim-based political party has accused rivals of pre-election dirty tricks by circulating a video compact disc which purports to show a key party member being baptised. The National Awakening Party (PKB), says the National Mandate Party and the Prosperous Justice Party have circulated a VCD featuring Abdurrahman Wahid, former president and the PKB's intended candidate for the presidential poll. Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation, holds a general election on April 5 and a presidential poll on July 5. But amid the dirty tricks, the five Muslim parties competing in next week's parliamentary elections aren't expected to do well.
Presenter/Interviewer: Marianne Kearney
Speakers: Alvin Lie, PAN legislator; Almuzzamil Yusuf, Vice Chairman, Prosperous Justice Party
Kearney: An estimated 85 per cent of Indonesia's 220 million people claim they are Muslim, but strangely campaigning exclusively on Islamic issues is not a vote-winner here.
Even parties such as PAN led by famous Muslim figure, Amien Rais, say they will not be playing the religious card. PAN legislator, Alvin Lie explains why:
Lie: "We are not positioning ourselves as a Muslim party. From the political statistics in Indonesia shows the public will favour a party which is more nationalist than a religious party."
Kearney: From the political statistics in Indonesia, it shows the public will favour a party that is more nationalist than rather than a religious party.
Having been mired in leadership and corruption scandals over the past few years, most Islamic parties are expected to lose votes this election say analysts.
But the main reason conservative Islamic parties won't do well in these elections is because their push to introduce shariah or Islamic law, which is not popular amongst the vast majority of Indonesian muslims.
However one new Muslim party on the block, the Prosperous Justice Party is expected to buck this trend. The party is attracting thousands of young voters to its ranks, Analysts expect it to gain between 4-8 per cent of the vote, which is a massive jump from the 1.4 per cent of votes it won in the 1999 election.
The party's vice chairman Almuzzamil Yusuf, says this is because rather than campaigning on Islamic issues, the Justice Party has been focusing on one of Indonesia's greatest problems: corruption.
Yusuf: "Our party, compared to the other parties, you can say we are the most honest party, especially our members of Parliament. They are famous for their honesty."
Kearney: Developing a reputation for clean candidates might not sound like such a revolutionary concept but in Indonesia, where getting a parliamentary seat is viewed as a prime money-making opportunity, it is.
Legislators usually awarded themselves huge salaries, cars, and outrageous travel and clothing allowances. Last year the Jakarta budget for the salaries and expenses of 85 councillors, was five times the amount allocated for the millions of poor.
As Yusuf points out the Justice Party legislators have become well known for refusing to take bribes.
Yusuf: "In West Java, when the governor gave his members of Parliament 'thank you' money, each member of Parliament got 250-million rupiah. They gave a press conference and they distributed the money, in total 500-million rupiah to the poor people. In Irian Jaya, Papua, the majority they are Christian, but now people are talking about the Justice Party as the rival of Golkar and PDI-P. There was an earthquake last month, we sent our doctors and medicine to the area. At the same time the government, and the other parties, they did nothing."
Kearney: Shifting the party's focus away from campaigning for Islamic law to more pressing issues such as helping the poor and providing assistance for people in conflict areas is paying off, says analysts.
Most of the justice party's supporters are urban professionals and university students, such as Achmad a shopping centre manager, who likes the party because of its commitment to clean government and because it is reaching out to non-Muslims.
Achmad: "They can stop corruption and they have clean people. Then they can accomodate with others, not only Muslims."