JAKARTA - Religious leaders have urged presidential candidates and their campaign teams to stop politicising religion ahead of the election on Wednesday, according to The Jakarta Post.
"In many campaign presentations, religion is used as a political commodity," Indonesian Ulema Council chairman Amidhan was quoted as saying after a meeting of religious leaders on Thursday.
The group called on the candidates to refrain from underhanded campaigning and to focus on their programmes.
Earlier in the week, some pamphlets distributed during a campaign rally of presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla in Medan, North Sumatra triggered heated debate.
The pamphlets said that the wife ofMr Boediono, the running mate of Mr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was a Catholic, not a Muslim.
Mr Yudhoyono's team threatened to file a libel suit against Mr Kalla but he denied any knowledge of the pamphlets.
URL http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC090704-0000068/Candidates-told--Stop-politicising-religion
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