Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – The Islamic card may not be a sure vote-winner in secular Indonesia, but candidates in the first direct presidential election are not taking any chances.
Pictures of President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who is battling for another term in office, performing Islamic rituals on a lightning trip to the holy city of Mecca have played widely on television.
Rival Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been at pains to fend off criticism that he is too Western-oriented and that he has hurt Muslims through an anti-terror drive he headed in his former role as Megawati's chief security minister.
Luring Muslim votes is a delicate balance in the world's most populous Muslim nation. Most Indonesian Muslims are moderate and presidential candidates are not firebrands. They oppose the implementation of Islamic sharia law and decry militants bent on killing Americans.
But election front-runner Yudhoyono and rival Megawati, both Muslims representing secular parties, have worked hard to play to Muslim sensibilities before a September 20 run-off vote.
"Most voters are Muslims and they dream of a leader who has an Islamic appearance. Candidates want that image," University of Indonesia political analyst Muhammad Budhyatna told Reuters.
Megawati flew to Mecca on Thursday for a weekend pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites. Television images showed her and husband Taufiq Kiemas in pristine white Muslim robes circling the holy Kaaba shrine. On Monday, she arrived home wearing another Muslim outfit, this time in red, the colour of her political party.
Around 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million population follow Islam. Most are moderates and support tough action against militants who have carried out several terror attacks in the country in recent years, including the 2002 Bali bombings.
Yet too much talk of Islamic militancy draws harsh criticism. And Indonesians prefer secular political parties to Muslim-oriented ones. The top two parties in the April 5 legislative elections were secular. The only other party to win a double-digit percentage share of the votes was set up by members of a key Islamic group but has an inclusive nature and non-Muslims on its board.
Skipping prayers
There is, however, an increasing desire among Indonesian Muslims to display their Islamic identity. "They love the image of an observant Muslim leader but loathe parties seeking to chase those who skip prayers," said Budhyatna, who co-founded a moderate Muslim party that is now defunct. "They are also afraid of hardliners who have a black-and-white approach to Islam and like to brandish the sword."
A survey by the US-based International Foundation for Election Systems showed last week most Indonesians would select their next president on personality and image, not on issues.
A trip to Mecca is something most Indonesian Muslims dream of, but few can afford. Megawati's visit was portrayed in the media as a way of thanking God after she gained enough votes in the July 5 first round of the election to carry her into the run-off.
Many analysts had predicted her popularity was on the decline amid high unemployment and sluggish economic growth and that she would be knocked out in round one.
Rival Yudhoyono went to Mecca in May, after his young Democrat Party surprisingly won 10 percent of the contested seats in the April parliamentary polls.
Both candidates have seen their Muslim credentials questioned. In 1999, Megawati was rumoured to be a Hindu, the original religion of her Balinese grandmother. Her party won the election that year but she failed to secure the presidency after the supreme legislature, the body that picked presidents at that time, preferred moderate Muslim cleric Abdurrahman Wahid.
More recently, Yudhoyono had to dispel rumours his wife Kristiani Herawati was Christian due to her name. "If they themselves don't come from a religious background, candidates must show they are at least pious," said political analyst Fachry Ali, who hails from Aceh, the only Indonesian province that enforces sharia law.
[Additional reporting by Emmy Zumaidar.]