There is no doubt that religious issues are playing a large and controversial role in the run up to Wednesday’s Jakarta governor election. Yesterday, Minister of Religious Affairs Lukman Hakim Saifuddin added his voice to the controversy when he tweeted this message to his followers:
“We are a religious nation that uses religion as a reference for our behavior. Choosing a gubernatorial candidate based on religious beliefs does not violate the constitution.”
Lukman’s tweet is not factually wrong. As a democracy, Indonesians are, of course, allowed to vote for their leaders based on whatever personal criteria they choose.
But considering the timing and context of Lukman’s tweet, many critics saw it as inappropriate at least and politically-motivated at worst.
His tweet came just one day after a massive prayer event in Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque in which thousands pledge to only vote for a Muslim candidate (and obviously there is only one non-Muslim candidate in the governor’s race – the incumbent, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama).
Humphrey Djemat, one of Ahok’s lawyers in his ongoing blasphemy trial, said that Lukman’s statement was likely a direct reply to remarks Ahok made on Saturday night when speaking to government officials in which he said that “You are going against the country’s constitution if you are voting for people based on religion.”
But if you look at the context of what Ahok said (something people are often not willing to do) he preceded that statement by saying that nobody was prohibited from voting based solely on religion but that doing so would go against the spirit of the constitution.
As Humphrey explained in a statement picked up by Tempo, “Ahok stated that in his position as a candidate in the Jakarta elections and spoke in the context of avoiding [attacks on religion, race and ethnicity], which of course go against the constitution,” he said in a written statement.
Several netizens on social media also reiterated that point in reply to Lukman:
“Pak Ahok meant that our constitution is based on Pancasila and Bhineka Tunngal Ika (Unity in Diversity), not religion.”
Lukman also noted that the religious affairs minister tweeted the message on the first day of the officially mandated “quiet time” before Wednesday’s election during which time officials are banned from campaigning.
It’s also worth mentioning that Lukman is also the head of the Romahurmuziy faction of the United Development Party (PPP), which is supporting the candidate pair of Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and Sylviana Murni.
Humphrey said Lukman needed to remain neutral and that President Joko Widodo should reprimand him for violating the quiet period and setting a bad example for the community, another sentiment some on Twitter agreed with:
“Three days until the Jakarta election and the religious affairs minister can’t stop himself from tweeting something like this during the quiet period.”
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