Jakarta – Minister of Religious Affairs Maftuh Basyuni reprimanded religious leaders Friday for using religion to get or discourage votes for certain parties.

The minister lamented the use of religious teachings during campaigns in order to achieve political purposes. "One must not use passages from the Koran or Bible to urge people to vote for certain candidates or parties," he said.

Maftuh explained that political or community figures often use religious doctrines to promote or put down certain parties, "Sometimes one is told that it would be more religiously correct to vote for a certain candidate or party, and it would be sinful to do otherwise."

In the upcoming elections, Indonesia, home of the largest Muslim population in the world, will have 38 national parties vying for seats in the legislative elections. More than a third of those parties are affiliated with certain religions, Islam and Christianity in particular.

The major Islamic-based parties include the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the United Development Party (PPP), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Crescent Star Party (PBB). The Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), meanwhile, is the only Christian-based party.

Despite the political parties' pledge for a peaceful and fair campaign, some community figures, such as religious leaders, still deliver speeches that could fuel conflict among those with different beliefs. These speeches often frown upon parties or candidates deemed as not being in line with certain beliefs.

"Nearing an election, some parties or figures usually try to segregate people according to their religious beliefs in order to gather support. This may be a common move. However, it must not heat up religious sentiments..." Maftuh said.

He added that the people should not sacrifice longtime inter-religious peace for the sake of something such as elections which are temporary in nature. "Religious leaders must tell their followers that each citizen is entitled to their personal political choice, and that choice should not be linked with one's religion."

According to Maftuh, religious leaders must also play a more active role in helping people to cope with the impacts of the global economic crisis as well as increasingly complex religious lives. Recent surveys, however, shows that using religion as tool to attract voters is not effective, with the majority of respondents opting for secular parties rather than Islamic parties.

Some 24 percent of respondents say they will vote for an Islamic party in the April 9 elections, a major drop from 38.1 percent who voted for Islamic parties in 2004, the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) found during their survey of 2,455 respondents early this month.

The survey also found 67 percent backed secular and non-Islamic parties, despite roughly 90 percent of the population being Muslim; nine percent were undecided. Political experts have also said that religious-based parties will lose their appeal in this year's election. (dis)