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Majority
of Indonesians oppose Islamic law, Western democracy: poll
(Kyodo) _ The majority of Indonesians do not support the
establishment of either a Western-model democratic state
or an Islamic state in Indonesia, the world's most populous
Muslim country, according to opinion survey results released
Thursday.
The survey carried out by Lingkaran Survei Indonesia found
that 69.6 percent of the 700 Indonesians polled favored
a political system based on the current state ideology of
"Pancasila" (five pillars), which combines monotheism,
pluralism and secularism.
Only 3.5 percent of them supported a Western-style democratic
system, while 11.5 percent supported establishment of an
Islamic state in the country. The remainder did not answer
or express support for any one of the three systems, LSI
said.
The survey was conducted through a face-to-face interviews
across the archipelago between July 28 and Aug. 3 with a
margin of error of more or less 3.8 percent.
"This survey just confirms the assumption that Indonesian
Muslims are moderate ones unlike those in the Middle East.
This survey result also shows the pro-pluralist sentiment
held by the majority of people," said Denny Januar
Aly, LSI executive director.
"Why are Indonesian Muslims that moderate? We speculate
this is the result of a longtime state intervention during
the New Order era to propagate Pancasila," Aly said,
referring to former President Suharto's autocratic regime
the collapsed in 1998 after 32 years in power.
"And secondly, it is because the country's two largest
Islamic Organizations, the Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah,
support that state ideology," he said.
Zuhairi Misrawi of the Nahdlatul Ulama expressed concern
that even though only 11.5 percent of pollees favored establishment
of an Islamic state, that could mean, in absolute numbers,
more than 20 million people out of Indonesia's total population
of over 220 million.
Misrawi said the number of conservative Muslims could rise
because of the spread of Wahabism, Saudi Arabia's conservative
style of Islamic practice and teaching, which he noted "has
generally has been successful throughout all provinces except
one."
However, Misrawi argued Indonesia's moderate brand of Islam
is not a unique phenomenon, saying he believes most Muslims
in the world are moderates though a small percentage of
them are fanatics.
The survey also found that the majority of respondents,
61 percent, do not favor the introduction of Islamic sharia
law to tackle violations of social and religious norms.
Islamic fanaticism has been growing in Indonesia following
the U.S.-led war on terror, which many Muslims, even the
moderate ones, have strongly criticized as cornering Muslim
and targeting Afghanistan and Iraq
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