Indoleft | MUI opposes 'troublesome and detrimental' direct elections

Home > South-East Asia >> Indoleft

MUI opposes 'troublesome and detrimental' direct elections

Republika – September 15, 2014

Bandung protest slams election law as return to Suharto's New Order – Kompas.com. September 10, 2014
Yogya workers say ending direct elections huge step back for democracy – Tempo.co. September 9, 2014
Popular election monitoring website targeted by hackers – Tempo.co. July 16, 2014
Quick count institution declaring Prabowo victory refuses to be audited – Kompas.com. July 15, 2014
Four quick count institutions declaring Widodo victory pass ethics council audit – Kompas.com. July 15, 2014

Jakarta – The Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) believes that the election of regional heads should be carried out by regional legislative councils (DPRD) because representative elections through the DPRD can minimalise the negative aspect of direct elections.

"The MUI believes that they [direct elections] bring nothing good and only cause trouble [mudharat] and are detrimental [mafsadah]", MUI chairperson Kiai [Islamic teacher] Ma'ruf Amin told Republika Online at the MUI's office in Jakarta on Monday September 12.

Amin said that the decision [not to support direct elections] was taken by MUI ulamas [Islamic scholars] based on a legal decision through the interpretation of the Koran [ijtihad] in 2012. The mujtahid [scholars certified to interpret religious law] held that the negative aspects of direct elections are greater than representative elections.

"The kiai were split, there was a grouping of cross-community figures, not to mention money politics, so the participants in the meeting at the time deemed that there was more mudharat", he said.

The MUI has appealed to society to trust in and leave the deliberations of the law on regional elections to the House of Representatives (DPR). "We [should] leave it up to those in authority to make regulations", he said.

Kiai Ma'ru believes that the focus of the MUI's deliberations were not on the democratic aspect but more on considering the mudharat and the mafsadah.

There is pressure to change the mechanism of regional elections in the Draft Law on Regional Elections (RUU Pilkada). The Red and White Coalition is pushing for direct elections to replaced by elections through DPRDs.

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "Putusan MUI 2012: Pilkada Langsung Banyak Mudharatnya".]

Source: http://www.republika.co.id/berita/nasional/politik/14/09/15/nbxq8w-putusan-mui-2012-pilkada-langsung-banyak-mudharatnya.

See also:

Subscribe to Indoleft

Indoleft is an English-language news service produced by the People's Liberation Party (PPR) and APSN. Postings are translated from Indonesian language news reports, statements and publications not otherwise available in English. If you would like to subscribe free to this service just send a blank message to <indoleft-subscribe@lists.riseup.net> and you will be automatically added to the list (APSN’s news update subscribers automatically receive INDOLEFT).