Between politics, faith and sex by Anand Krishna

*Anand Krishna* , Jakarta post | Tue, 05/19/2009 10:00 AM | Opinion

While reading Friday’s Jakarta Post, a visiting friend remarked we were “a
funny” country. Perhaps he was trying to use a milder term for something
else. His remark came after reading an item concerning Prosperous Justice
Party (PKS) chairperson Tifatul Sembiring’s views on Bank of Indonesia’s
Governor, Boediono, as the running mate of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for his
next term in the office as president.
The second piece of news was about another equally “funny” article about the
requirement for a female presidential candidate to avoid having sex for ten
days.

Tifatul Sembiring is not very comfortable with Governor Boediono’s faith and
says, as quoted by this paper, “Boediono has never been seen speaking to
Muslim masses.”
So, although he regularly attends Friday prayers in the mosque, he is still
considered that not sufficiently Muslim”.
What is more “funny” is that according to Sembiring’s statement, his
constituents see Boediono as a nationalist, which is not a proper
representation of Islam.
The question is; what then is the proper representation of Islam? Another
more important question is; can Muslims be not nationalists at the same
time?

What equally bothers me is whether the Christians, or Hindus, or Buddhists
have any chance to be a vice president of this country. Where is this
country leading to?
The former president of Prosperous Justice Party, Hidayat Nurwahid, who now
chairs the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), made a statement awhile
ago that he had received several SMSs saying that he was against national
unity (NKRI) and the national ideology based on the principle of Bhinneka
Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity).
Hidayat denied all these allegations. It is now high time that he makes it
clear what is his
understanding of Unity in Diversity in view of his party’s high commands
statement.

Hidayat also refused to be associated with Saudi wahabis, who according to
him were against political parties. What about the ideology of wahabis,
which places uniformity above Unity in Diversity?
Of much interest is also the reason the Depok regent decided to close down a
church, and to deny them a building permit. Interestingly, this regent
belongs to Hidayat’s party. It would be interesting to hear Hidayat to speak
on this subject.
There was another piece of news related to the sexual activities of female
presidential candidates; perhaps the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI)
chairman, Fachmi Idris, has conducted extensive research on this subject.
What he forgot to disclose was a more understandable reason behind this.
To quote the Post on this subject, “the requirement for a female candidate
to avoid having sex is
to prevent the outcome of her medical check up from showing ‘biased’
results.”

What is not mentioned is whether the so-called “biased” results are only
related to females alone, or also to the males?
The latest findings in the field of medicine have indicated that as women
have their menstruation, men also experience a similar cycle with different
symptoms. As women have menopause, men too have andropause.
Indeed, women can have xx chromosomes, men cannot have yy. Men inherit the
xx chromosomes from their mothers. We are not discussing the issue of the
superiority of men over women or vice versa. But let us talk of some
sensibilities.

In this region of the world, we have never tabooed sex. We have made
intensive studies about sexual energies. The ruins of our campuses at Sukuh
and Cetoh at Central Java are proof of this.
Sexual energy when not channeled for higher purposes to make one more
creative and innovative, will only try to find its release through
intercourse and masturbation. By the way, the passion to hold on to a
position or to fight for a position at any cost – are also prompted by
unchannelled or rather mischannelled sexual energy.
I have many questions in my mind; my friends from overseas have many
questions in their mind. What about you? The readers of The Jakarta Post. If
we do not start questioning today, then tomorrow it may be too late.
*
The writer is a spiritual activist and the author of more than 120 books.*