MUI FATWA ON ABSTAINING IN POLLS IRRELEVANT : OBSERVER

Kupang, Jan 31 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI)'s edict forbidding Muslims to abstain in the upcoming general elections is irrelevant because religion-based politics are unknown in Indonesia, an academic here said.
"In my view, someone who does not use his or her political right in general elections is not violating any law because abstaining is also part of the people's political right which has to be respected in any country," said Nicolaus Pira Bunga, a law and political science lecturer at Nusa Cendana University, here Saturday.
He said no religious institution in Indonesia had the right to dictate the people regarding their political rights because in Indonesia which adheres to Pancasila as its state ideology religion-based politics are not known.
"A citizen's decision to use or not to use his or her voting right in general elections has nothing to do with spiritual matters and therefore it should not be regulated by a fatwa," Nicolaus said.
He said the attempt by the nation's top Islamic body to ban abstaining in general elections had given rise to a controversy, although it was intended to encourage people to use their voting right.
Nicolaus also said the fatwa would cause the public to make all sorts of interpretations about the MUI's motives in issuing it.
Therefore, he said, the state should not be trapped by the MUI fatwa and remain impartial amid the ineterests of all the different components of the nation in protecting the people's right to vote or not to vote.
"People who do not use their political right to vote in the upcoming general election should be protected because abstaining is legally allowed and has nothing to do with the spiritual affairs of a certain religion," Nicolaus added.