Fatwa against woman president

2004-06-04 07:28

Jakarta - Several Indonesian Islamic clerics have issued an edict telling Muslims not to vote for a female presidential candidate, reports said Friday.

Incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri is the only woman among five candidates for the July 5 poll, when Indonesians for the first time will directly elect their leader.

The clerics, members in East Java province of Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), met on Thursday to endorse the candidacy of former military chief Wiranto and his running mate Solahuddin Wahid, NU's deputy head.

"It was noted that the prohibition on women to assume positions of leadership was no longer a question still in dispute but already something that has been generally accepted among Muslim clerics," one of them, Anwar Iskandar, told Antara news agency.

Megawati's party won the 1999 parliamentary election. But Islamic parties in the legislature, which at the time chose presidents, blocked her bid for the leadership - partly on the grounds of her sex.

She was appointed vice-president and became president in July 2001 after parliament sacked her erratic predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid.

Despite Thursday's fatwa, analysts expect that the vote of NU's claimed 40 million supporters will be split. NU leader Hasyim Muzadi is running for vice-president alongside Megawati.

An NU official said the edict from the East Java clerics was not binding. "NU members are free to vote for any pair of candidates," NU deputy secretary general Bachari Ansori was quoted as saying by Antara.

Koran Tempo in an editorial criticised the edict. "Not only does such a fatwa have no weight but the public can also consider it cheap," the paper said.

- AFP