MUI Calls for Muslims to Vote, Avoid Abstention
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27 March 2019 20:45 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) advisory council (DP MUI) leader Din Syamsudin urged Muslims not choose the path of abstention in the upcoming general election, maintaining that voting a leader is national and religious obligations.
“Today’s meeting asserts the existing fatwa calling for voters, especially Muslim voters to not pick the abstention path,” said Din Syamsudin after the 37th DP MUI plenary meeting on Wednesday, March 27.
According to Din, the meeting’s outcome further strengthens MUI’s fatwa in 2009 that necessitates Muslims to cast their vote, even though it does not mention abstention as haram (forbidden).
Speaking further about the Indonesia election on April 17, 2019, Head of MUI foreign affairs and international partnership Muhyiddin Junaidi made sure he expressed the importance of voting for a nation’s leader; “Golput [abstention] in religious terms is not allowed. After all, the country must have a leader,” he said.
FIKRI ARIGI
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