Security, Jobs Hover Over Indonesian Vote

In First Direct Presidential Election, Religion Appears to Play Minor Role

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Uu Ukirman is a man with a face as round and bright as a full moon. Most mornings, before the sun rises, he is at the mosque 20 paces from his house. There, one recent morning, wearing a black pillbox hat, he raised his resonant voice, issuing the Muslim call to prayer.

"Allahhhhhuu Akbar," he cried, part wail, part chant, as men in sarongs and prayer shawls silently slipped into the mosque.

Meanwhile, his two grown sons slept through the prayer. He said he did not see this as an affront to Islam. It's a matter of "personal choice," he said.

Uu, his wife and one daughter say that in presidential elections on Monday, they will vote for a former armed forces chief, who they trust will bring security and prosperity. Uu's four other children will vote for a former security minister who has repeatedly spoken out against terrorism in Indonesia.

Politics, Uu said, is also about personal choice. His choice is to reject extremism, as do most Muslims in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country. "A majority of Indonesians live in peace," he said. "We don't like violence. We don't want to make enemies."

Democracy is a new endeavor in Indonesia, a nation of 212 million people. This is the country's first direct presidential election after years of leaders being chosen by legislators. Voters will choose from five candidates.

Some, such as Uu, are expressing priorities that sound similar to those of democracies elsewhere: security and jobs. A recent public opinion survey showed that religion was voters' least important consideration in choosing a president. Leadership quality was the most important. Indeed, religious issues do not dominate the campaign, and over the years, Indonesia's Muslim majority has dismissed calls by a radical minority for the adoption of Islamic law, known as sharia. The candidate who espouses sharia is in last place.

Uu, a religious but not a zealous man, is typical of Indonesian Muslims. His life is infused with Islam, yet it is not a brand of Islam that makes headlines. When Uu and his family see images of violence on television committed by radicals espousing Muslim ideals, they react with fear and distaste.

"Indonesian Muslims . . . can be a model for the Muslim world," said Syafiq Hasyim, deputy director of the International Center for Islam and Pluralism here. "In Indonesia, Islam contributes to democracy."

An Indicted Candidate

Uu's favorite perch is an aluminum bench next to the mosque, in the little lane in front of his peach-colored house. Seated there, dressed in sarong and sandals, he can watch the world go by and discuss news of the day. Men in button-down shirts, carrying briefcases, stride by on their way to work. Vendors trundle by, toting bundles of fried vegetable cakes or pushing carts offering meatball soup, banging spoons on a pan to alert customers.

At first, Uu said, he tried to tell his children to vote for Gen. Wiranto, the former military commander under President Suharto, the longtime authoritarian leader who was ousted following popular demonstrations in 1998. "They said, 'Pop, give me a break,' " he recalled, chuckling. "That's democracy. Everyone has their own vote." The children said they would vote for Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the former security chief.

Uu said he had heard that Wiranto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, has been indicted for human rights abuses in East Timor, a former Portuguese colony that Indonesia occupied in 1975 and which became independent in 2002 after years of armed resistance to Indonesian rule. Uu said he did not know whether there was any truth to the charges against Wiranto. In any case, he said, he liked the fact that Wiranto was a former military man who would be "firm."

Uu, 53, said he was concerned about violence after years of terrorist attacks, including bombings of shopping malls, a mosque, churches, two Bali nightclubs and a hotel in Jakarta. The government blames Jemaah Islamiah, a Muslim terrorist organization most of whose members are Indonesians and Malaysians.

"Indonesians are religious, so why are so many chaotic things happening?" Uu said. "Islam never taught us to do those things."