Muslim voters look past Islam
When the country with the world's largest Muslim population chooses its president, many people would assume Islam would be at the core of the debate.
Think again.
About 85 per cent of Indonesia's 240 million citizens are Muslim, but Islamic issues have taken a back seat during the campaign and no presidential or vice-presidential candidate has strong Islamic credentials.
Most Indonesian people separate religion from politics.
'I am a Muslim, and I have a strong faith, but I think this is positive. Religion is not supposed to be mixed with politics,' said Dyah Ayu Maharani, 34, a teacher in Surabaya.
'Looking at the wide array of issues that Indonesia needs to tackle, religious issues are not the most important.'
Pratu Rakhma Esti, 31, from Jakarta, said politics should not be tainted by religious influences.
'Indonesia consists of different religions, and our problems are not always Islamic,' she argued.
Experts see the secularisation of politics as a sign of the development of democracy.
'The separation is a positive sign. This is how it should be. Religion should not be a dominant factor in the kind of issues dealt with during the election process,' said Pramono Tanthowi, executive director of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Civilisation.
In the lead-up to today's poll, Islam became part of the debate briefly when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono named former Bank of Indonesia governor Boediono as his choice for vice-president.
Several Islamic parties lamented that Mr Boediono was 'not Islamic enough'. The clamour soon subsided, as Mr Boediono's integrity and abilities are widely recognised.
Soon after, Islam again briefly hit the front page as the wives of Dr Susilo and Mr Boediono were criticised for not wearing the Islamic veil. But the topic failed to gain traction as candidates and the public focused on the economy.
The three presidential candidates, Dr Susilo, Jusuf Kalla and Megawati Sukarnoputri, represent the Democratic Party, Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle respectively, the three largest secular parties. Dr Susilo is also endorsed by a string of Islamic parties.
The secularisation of the electoral process was evident during the April legislative vote, when a critical mass of voters chose parties not formally based on membership of Islamic organisations or on Islamic values.
The top three vote-getters were the top three secular parties, which received 50 per cent of the vote in a contest featuring 38 national parties. Islamic parties managed less than 24 per cent of the total vote, their worst-ever result.
Political analysts have pointed out the irony that declining support for Islamic parties comes as Indonesia and the world experience an increase in the influence of radical Islam.
