Security, Jobs Hover Over Indonesian Vote

Disowning the Extremists

Uu's son Asep is a younger version of Uu, plump with a rascally grin, his baseball cap on backward. He works in his father's ironsmith shop around the corner from their house. Jemaah Islamiah, he said, pausing while welding a door one day, "is a different strain of Islam." He noted that the group leaders were trained in Afghanistan. "This group doesn't have any roots here," he said.

"Muslims in Indonesia are not terrorists," he said. "We love peace, and we won't attack other countries."

Asep said he gets angry when he thinks about Indonesia's image abroad. "The majority of Indonesians are not part of that movement," he said. "Do you know the saying, 'One drop of poison ruins the whole jug of milk'?"

The answer is not the imposition of sharia, Uu said. "I don't feel comfortable with that," he added. "Indonesia is diverse. Not everyone is Muslim. If we want to implement sharia, it would mean everyone would have to be Muslim. It could be a problem."

In a country with an overwhelmingly Muslim majority, Christians and other minorities have not been subject to religious laws. And with a direct presidential election widely expected to be free and mostly fair, the country is gradually moving toward strengthening its institutions, analysts said.

Islam was introduced throughout the Indonesian islands largely by traders from India, many of whom were Sufi mystics, beginning in the late 13th century. "The peaceful way of introducing Islam at the time became the prototype, the seed of democracy and pluralism in Indonesian Islam," Hasyim explained.

Indonesian Muslims are flexible, blending the high Islamic traditions with local culture. Some visit the graves of family members every weekend, a Javanese practice alien to adherents of the strict Wahhabi sect of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia, Hasyim said.

And the presence of large, moderate Muslim civic groups serves as a bulwark against extreme views, he said.

Scarf for the President

On the bustling, fume-ridden city street where Uu welds iron into furniture frames and fences, the scenery is transformed by politics. Banners and posters for the presidential candidates adorn businesses, a riot of color and appeals to vote.

Religious issues do not dominate the campaign, but religion has shaped the campaign in some ways.

One banner shows President Megawati Sukarnoputri wearing a head scarf, as she almost never does. But Megawati -- who was elevated to the presidency when her predecessor, Abdurrahman Wahid, was impeached and pressured to resign -- is behind in the polls. Many people figure the president is trying to win a few more votes by boosting her appeal among traditional Muslim voters.

"It suits her," said Uu, sitting again on his bench, having traded in his sarong for denim shorts and a polo shirt.

"But it won't work," said Hayati, Uu's sparkly-eyed, diminutive wife, who wore a chiffon head scarf. "She has been in government a long time and she hasn't fulfilled her promises."

Clerics belonging to the country's largest Muslim civic organization recently issued an edict that a woman should not be elected president. Some took it as a bid to undermine Megawati's campaign.

Other clerics from the same organization objected, saying the Koran did not forbid women from leading.

Yudhoyono, the front-runner, is the target of rumors that he is anti-Islamic, the candidate of the Christians. Uu said he heard it from a friend at the market the other day. But, he said, true or not, it really was not an issue.

"It's not a problem for me if a lot of Christians support Susilo," he said. "I'm sure a lot of Christians are voting for Wiranto. So why should I care?"

Uu's favorite prayer comes at dawn. It is when he asks God for a long life, protection for his family and a smooth-running business. "Every morning," he said. "That's what I ask."

When he votes on Monday, he said, he will be hoping that the next president can work toward those goals -- security for the country and a better economy.

Politics, he likes to say, is separate from religion. But there is an element of faith to both.

Special correspondent Noor Huda Ismail contributed to this report.