CAIRO — As the presidential vote draws nearer in the world's most populous Muslim state, Indonesian religious leaders are joining hands in urging candidates to avoid using religion as an election card, reported the Jakarta Post on Friday, July 3. "In many campaign presentations, religions are used as a political commodity," Amidhan Sheberah, Chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council, said.

Meeting in Jakarta Thursday, leaders of different faiths urged candidates to refrain from using religion for election purposes.

"Smart voters will not vote for candidates that use religions as a commodity," Amidhan said.

"They (voters) will vote for ones who offer the best programs for the country."

Indonesia Polls (Special Page) Indonesia Elections… Key Players The move came days after the campaign of incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono accused his former vice president Jusuf Kalla of distributing pamphlets claiming that the wife of Boediono, Susilo's running mate, was a Catholic, not a Muslim. Though Jusuf's team emphatically denied the accusation, it triggered many heated public debates and threats of taking legal actions.

"They should adopt some manners in this competition," Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Indonesia's second largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah, urged the candidates.

Indonesian voters will go to polling stations on Wednesday, July 8, to elect a new president for the world's most populous Muslim country.

Three parties are competing in the vote, which pits Susilo of the ruling Democratic Party against his former vice-president Jusuf of Golkar Party and former president Megawati Sukarnoputri of the Democratic Party of Struggle.

Backfire

Religious leaders warned that politicizing religion could have a disastrous impact on the multi-racial country.

"It may trigger conflicts," said Reverend Richard Daulay from the Indonesian Communion of Churches.

Amidhan, of the Indonesian Ulema Council, said candidates playing the religion card often lose the polls.

"The victim can take advantage of it," he said.

Burhanuddin Muhtadi, an analyst from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), agrees.

"Experience says that voters do not put high concern on religious issues," Burhanuddin said.

"In 1999, Megawati Soekarnoputri was said to be a Hindu, but her party won the legislative elections.

"The same thing happened in 2004, when Susilo's wife was said to be a Christian, but then he won the presidential election."

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation with a population of 220 million, around 85 percent of them follows Islam.

The country is described as the world's third-largest democracy, after India and the US.