Jakarta – The support for political parties based upon Islam and with an Islamic mass base is stagnating and tending to decline. The situation is the reverse of political support for parties without a religious basis.

Surabaya – Prominent Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) cleric and the caretaker of the Langitan pesantren (traditional Islamic boarding school) in Tuban, East Java, KH Abdullah Faqih has been chosen to lead a group opposing the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas).