Jakarta, April 23 (Antara) - The Islamic political parties, which
collectively won about 32 percent of the votes in the April 9
legislative elections based on unofficial quick counts, need to form a
coalition to serve Muslims' interest.
"A coalition of Islamic parties is needed to serve the interest of the
Muslim community and the people as a whole," Abdul Ghaffar, chairman of
the Human Research and Development Center of the Yogyakarta branch of
the country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said on
Monday.
He said the formation of a coalition by Islamic parties was needed as
long as it was aimed at serving the interest of the Muslim community,
not for a certain group only. Therefore, as they had a relatively large
number of votes, namely about 32 percent, Islamic parties need to form
their own alliance.
Based on unofficial quick counts, the three top positions in the recent
legislative elections were secured by nationalist parties with a
combined voter turnout of about 45 percent. However, these nationalist
parties, respectively, had their own presidential candidates. Thus, it
was impossible for them to coalesce with each other.
Yet, they had presidential candidates with a relatively high
electability. The first winner of the legislative election, the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), for example, had
nominated popular Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo, better known as
Jokowi.
The Golkar Party, the second winner, nominated its
general chairman Aburizal Bakrie, while the Great Indonesia Movement
(Gerindra), which secured the third place in the legislative elections,
nominated its chief patron Prabowo Subianto.
Of the three, Jokowi is predicted by many surveys to have the biggest
chance to win the upcoming presidential race on July 9, 2014.
What about a coalition if formed by the Islamic parties? It should
nominate a presidential candidate who also has a high electability to
compete with coalitions of nationalist parties.
Political analyst Susilo Utomo of the Diponegoro University said it is
difficult to build a strong coalition of Islamic political parties
because they had no unifying figure.
"Such a coalition will
need a unifying figure for all parties involved. Now, is there any
figure that can unite the Islamic parties?" Susilo questioned on
Tuesday.
Most importantly, the alliance of Islamic parties should have a
presidential candidate who had high electability if it wants to contest
the presidential post.
According to Abdul Ghaffar of Yogyakarta NU branch, Islamic coalition
is not a matter of supporting or not supporting a presidential
candidate, but of how to reinforce and increase the bargaining position
of Islamic parties with regard to the decision making process in the
next government.
He said until now there were many regulations and policies that were not favorable to the Muslim community.
"There
are a number of laws that are against the 1945 Constitution and the
Pacasila state ideology. The upcoming leaders must improve this in
accordance to the mandate they received from the people," Abdul Ghaffar
said.
Meanwhile, he said a coalition of Islamic parties should have the
orientation to uphold the Pancasila state ideology. Even though
Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim populated country, it cannot ignore
the interest of other religious adherents.
"It is unfair if Islam does not accommodate the interest of the
minorities. The Indonesian Muslims are concerned about this," Abdul
Ghaffar said.
Therefore, the Islamic Solidarity Forum (FUI) of Indonesian Ulemas
Council (MUI) called on the Islamic political parties to unite in an
alliance in the face of the upcoming presidential elections.
There are five Islamic political parties taking part in this year's
general elections, namely the United Development Party (PPP), the
National Awakening Party (PKB), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the
National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Crescent and Star Party (PBB).
In the April 9 legislative elections, the PKB won 9.20 percent of the
votes based on the unofficial quick counts, the PAN won 7.50 percent,
the PKS won 6.90 percent, the PPP won 6.70 percent and the PBB won 1.60
percent.
"We call on the leaders of the Islamic parties to comply with the hope
of their Muslim constituents to form an Islamic coalition in the face of
the July 9, 2014, presidential election," General Chairman of the
Tarbiyah Islamiyah mass organization Basri Barmanda said when reading
the FUI statement on Monday.
Tarbiyah Islamiyah is one of the 67 Islamic Mass Organizations under the FUI.
Basri said the Islamic parties should thank their Muslim constituents
for the relatively high votes they gained in the legislative elections.
They should not ignore the support of Muslim constituents who were
dreaming of the realization of Islamic values in the nation and the
state.
"The relatively high voter turnout indicates that Muslims hope the
Islamic values will be implemented in the national political life," he
said.
Meanwhile, Din Syamsuddin, the chairman of the country's second-largest
Muslim organization Muhammadiyah, said the rising call of Muslims for
the formation of the Islamic party alliance should boost the
establishment of the coalition.
"We should accommodate the voices of Muslims," stated Din, adding that
the collective votes political parties had gained can serve as a big
force.
"If taken together, it can reach 32 percent," the Muhammadiyah chairman said.
Therefore, Ma'ruf Amin, the Legal Council chairman of the PKB, stated
he will do his best to persuade the PKB to join an Islamic coalition.
"We will do our best so that the PKB will join it," asserted Ma'ruf.
Political analyst Susilo Utomo said previously that the PKB had
rejected joining a coalition of Islamic political parties.
The reluctance of the PKB to join a coalition of Islamic parties, in
the proposed Greater Indonesia coalition for example, is understandable
because it had a traumatic experience with such an alliance.
"PKB had a traumatic experience with the axis force coalition in 1999.
At that time, the axis force supported Abdurrahman Wahid of the PKB as
the president but it later toppled him," Susilo added.
The traumatic experience was unforgettable for followers of the
country's largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
Therefore, Susilo argued the PKB currently tends to choose nationalist
parties for a coalition, rather than Islamic parties.***1***
(T.A014/INE)
EDITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 23-04-2014 22:33 |
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