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| Southeast Asia |
| Indonesian Muslims told not to vote female as president |
| 2004-06-05 |
| Several Indonesian Islamic clerics have issued an fatwa telling Muslims not to vote for a female presidential candidate, reports said Friday. Incumbent Megawati Sukarno-putri 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 Indonesiaâs largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), met Thursday to en-dorse the candidacy of former miliary chief Wiranto and his running mate Solahuddin Wahid, NUâs deputy head. âIt 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,â one of them, Anwar Iskandar, told Antara news agency. Megawatiâs party won the 1999 parliamentary election. But Islamic parties in the legislature, which at the time chose presidents, blocked her bid for the leadership â partly on the grounds of her sex. She was appointed vice-president and then became president in July 2001 after parliament sacked her erratic predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid. Despite Thursdayâs fatwa, analysts expect that the vote of NUâs 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. âNU members are free to vote for any pair of candidates,â NU deputiy secretary general Bachari Ansori was quoted as saying by Antara. Koran Tempo in an editorial criticized the edict. âNot only does such a fatwa have no weight but the public can also consider it cheap,â the paper said. |
| Posted by:TS(vice girl) |
| #5 For balance's sake, let me remind people that Turkey has had a female prime minister in its recent past (Tansu Ciller), when many a Christian country haven't yet had a female prime minister or president. I don't believe France or Germany or Spain or Italy has ever had a female leader for example. I know that Greece and the USA haven't. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-06-05 9:21:00 PM |
| #4 I think the subjugation bears more on the muslim male's self-knowledge of their own true sad-ass pile of insecurity, ineffectiveness, and lack of self control. However much this goes against my own tendency to think the best of people, I cannot possibly disagree with you, Frank G. There is a "blame-the-victim" (i.e., women, Jews, Americans and everybody-on-the-planet-but-their-f&%king-selves) mentality that is so prevalent in the Middle East that I can no longer argue this point. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-06-05 2:29:26 PM |
| #3 Zen - I think the subjugation bears more on the muslim male's self-knowledge of their own true sad-ass pile of insecurity, ineffectiveness, and lack of self control. They truly are the weaker gender in Islam, and have adapted the Koran to keep the women down. Once Islamic women wake up and shed the hijab, Mahmoud's gotta get a real job, quit seething, and help around the house. no honor, no shame |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-06-05 1:53:42 PM |
| #2 Does anyone else get the feeling that fundamentalist Islam is some sort of crude attempt to overcome the historically greater number of women in any given population? The degree of subjugation and oppression embodied by so much of Sharia law and Koranic teaching comes off as a pretty ruthless effort at overcoming the biologically favorable birth rate for females. At some point all Moslem women will need to realize that their own self interest, nay, even their very safety and survival depend upon them voting against the installation of any Islamists in public office. I'm confident that election rigging and the nearly virtual house arrest many Islamic women live under intentionally interferes with such a possibility. This is just one more reason to openly declare that all theocratic governments represent a fundamental and intrinsic violation of human rights. For some grand poobah to publicly avow that women are not entitled to elected representation instantly voids any legitimacy they seek to maintain. Islam must quickly realize that it is these sort of oppressive and blatantly unfair interpretations of religious law that give their faith all the authority (and airs) of a school yard bully. The degree to which fundamentalist Islam manifests as an entirely self-serving and retrogressive form of male-entitlement-parading-as-religious-authority would be downright laughable if women were not being gang raped by edict, having acid thrown in their faces and being beaten half-to-death on such a regular basis. Between jihadist atrocities and institutionalized misogyny, Islam has reached a crossroads in its viability as an acceptable religion. The torrent of abusive conduct and revolting barbarity incurred in Islam's name is rapidly eroding its last shreds of credibility as a valid religion of any sort. Civilized society must eventually stand up and take notice of this constant outrage against over half the world's population. Nations that refuse to do so, as with disavowing terrorism itself, eventually must be lumped with those who perpetuate such barbarity. Silence is consent and be it through overt participation or tacit approval, any who sustain this continuous affront to humanity must be made to account for it. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-06-05 1:08:25 PM |
| #1 I hope that Koran Tempo's right - I prefer apostate Muslims over fundie Muslims anyway ... |
| Posted by: Edward Yee 2004-06-05 12:23:37 PM |