Nurfika Osman – It's been a long time since 1955. The failure by Islam-based political parties to make any significant headway in national legislative elections since the Masyumi and Nahdlatul Ulema parties finished second and third 54 years ago continued in Thursday's polls, with religious leaders saying their policies were unclear and they simply weren't trusted by voters.

Unofficial quick counts by several groups, including the National Survey Circle, showed that the Prosperous Justice Party, or PKS, finished fourth with 7.37 percent of the vote, followed by the United Development Party, or PPP, the National Mandate Party, or PAN, and the National Awakening Party, or PKB. The PKS didn't fare any better than in 2004, PAN did slightly worse and the PKB, weakened by an internal rift, plummeted by around 50 percent.

Masdar F. Mas'udi, deputy chairman of Nahdlatul Ulema, the country's largest Islamic organization, said voter support for parties that identify themselves as Muslim continues to remain marginal because voters are unsure about their ability to deal with important issues.

"They are still asking what kinds of new things these parties can give to the nation, and they are unsure whether religious-based parties can do anything better than other parties," Masdar said.

He also said the Islamic parties' stated programs didn't resonate with grassroots voters.

"Their concepts are not clear and if we are talking about Islam, we should know that the root of Islam is justice," he said. "And these parties do not fully pay attention to the basic issues of justice such as access to the economy, education and health care."

Masdar said some Islamic parties were preoccupied with symbolic religious issues like the antipornography law and attempts to ban traditional jaipong dance in West Java Province. "The fact that they ban jaipong and supported the porn bill led to the decline of their voting figures in this election," Masdar said. "People who love jaipong and believe in pluralism did not like it. So, the question is: Where will they take this nation?"

Amidhan, chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulema, said that there were only minor ideological differences among the Islamic and nationalist-based parties and that the policies of groups like the PKS and the PPP weren't in line with what voters wanted.

"Yes, the parties have an Islamic-based ideology, but then they also subscribe to Pancasila," he said. "People expect they can bring something new, but then their policies are almost the same as the non-Islamic parties."