Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Indonesian Muslims will ignore the recent edict by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the country's highest Islamic authority, to ban vote abstention, as people's decision to vote will be determined by political calculation rather than religious dogma, politicians from major parties said Wednesday.
Public participation in the election, they said, would be based on voter perceptions of whether the election could improve their economic, political and social conditions and make their lives better.
"It has nothing to do with religion. I doubt the edict will have done any good in drawing people to the polling booths," Ganjar Pranowo, a senior legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said.
He said in a democracy, the people's right to abstain from voting must be respected as it was their choice to make.
"We must examine what makes them ignore elections. If it is because they don't believe the election can make a difference in their lives, I think the government and the political parties should do something about it rather than let the MUI take the lead on the issue," he said.
The MUI issued several edicts banning vote abstention, smoking and yoga, during their national meeting in Padangpanjang, West Sumatra, on Monday. Some 700 clerics from the council agreed Muslims were forbidden to abstain from voting in an election if "qualified" candidates existed.
House of Representatives speaker Agung Laksono also criticized the MUI for the edict, saying the religious body had gone too far. "There are other ways that are more effective than an edict by the MUI. A political right cannot be enforced by a religious group or tied to religious practice," he said.
The edict, Agung added, was a case of politics intermingling with religion, which did not mix. "To increase participation at the polls, we need to reform the political parties and the way elections are organized," Agung, a senior politician from the Golkar Party, said. "The number of voters who abstain says something about the level of public trust," he said.
Mahfudz Siddiq of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) agreed that it was the government, the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the political parties that had the responsibility of reducing unregistered voters.
"We welcome the MUI's edict. But it is only advice, not a binding order. You see, many people don't vote because they are not registered. The KPU, the government and political parties should work hand in hand to minimize unregistered voters," he said.
As for people who really choose not to vote, there was no law prohibiting vote abstention.
Member of Golkar's advisory council Marzuki Achmad said that fear of high abstention in the upcoming election has driven MUI to issue such an edict. "We should appreciate it. But it won't be effective unless we have a law about it," he said.
A series of recent surveys have found that the number of voters intending to abstain was not high, ranging from 10 percent to 15 percent of total eligible voters. What worries observers is the finding that there are many unregistered voters, reaching 25 percent of total eligible voters.
The KPU has come under fire for the high level of unregistered voters, with many critics saying it could threaten the credibility of the election. With less than three months until the April 9 legislative election, the KPU still does not have a final voter list.
Late last year, the KPU announced the final list of eligible voters, which stood at around 172 million people. However, following intense public criticism over the thoroughness of the voter list, the KPU submitted a draft government regulation last month which allowed the poll body to revise its lists.
The head of the KPU logistics bureau, Dalail, however, rejected the plan, saying any revision of the final list of voters could disrupt preparations currently under-way, such as purchasing election materials.
"Preparing materials for the election will take a lot of time. We can't determine how much it will cost with the voter list constantly changing," he said last week.
The PDI-P's Ganjar said the indication that there was a high level of unregistered voters was what should raise concerns, and strengthened his belief that the MUI edict would not work.
"It is the KPU that should be fixed. Its members are even undecided on the validity of their voter lists, which they have worked on for months," he said.