TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The country’s 2019 presidential election is still strongly marred by religious polarization according to Gadjah Mada University political expert Dodi Ambardi in a public discussion on elections issues at Tempo headquarters on Monday.

He also argues that both presidential candidates Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Prabowo Subianto had equally mobilized religious issues during the presidential campaign to rally support from certain groups.

“Each attempted to utilize polarized religious sentiments, which they hoped would boost political support,” said Dodi.

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The visible example from Jokowi, he says, was when the incumbent named Ma’ruf Amin as his running mate instead of the strongly rumored former Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD. According to Dodi, Mahfud has the character and sufficient Islamic credentials that is arguably better than Ma’ruf.

He suspects that Ma’ruf was appointed for his role in sparking the 212 rally back in 2016, which mostly consist of conservative groups.

Meanwhile, he said that Prabowo Subianto has also opened ties with a figure from the 212 conservative group and the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) Rizieq Shihab, which he deemed is to rally support for Prabowo`s presidential election campaign.

The religious polarization was also picked up by National Gusdurian Network (JGD) coordinator Alissa Qotrunnada Munawaroh (Alissa Wahid). She argues that this tendency shown by presidential candidates shows a shift in characteristics of the democracy system following the momentum of the Jakarta Gubernatorial Election, which was marred with religious sentiments.

FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA