Jakarta, IO – In the run up to 2024 Elections, Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf (“Gus Yahya”) asked election participants not to carry out political campaigns in places of worship, saying that it’s dangerous, reported Merdeka, Friday (6/1).
Gus Yahya remembered that as a General Elections Commission (KPU) commissioner in the 1990s, there was a prohibition for election contestants to campaign in houses of worship. He recommended the incumbent KPU commissioner to reenact the regulation.
Gus Yahya believes that it is necessary to reestablish the campaign parameters that ban campaign at a house of worship because it is divisive and can lead to polarization and the emergence of identity politics.
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“I think we need to emphasize the campaign parameters for places of worship because it is dangerous, so please don’t do it. We have already seen the consequences of identity politics which are extraordinarily destructive in various societies,” said Gus Yahya. (un)