Indonesian military commander orders military to be neutral in presidential poll

Indonesian military commander General Moeldoko on Thursday ordered military officers and soldiers to be neutral during the country's presidential race next month.

The general asked military officers not to take side in one of the political parties and focus only on maintaining security during the upcoming biggest democratic event.

Military officers must not be persuaded to support any political party," he said, adding, "I have stressed that the military must be neutral" in the presidential race scheduled on July 9.

Former general Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Hatta Rajasa, and the front-runner Jakarta governor Joko Widodo and running mate former vice president Jusuf Kalla will compete for presidency.

Prabowo is chairman of the Indonesian Great Movement Party ( Gerindra) and Hatta is chairman of the National Mandate Party and also former chief economic minister.

Jokowi, a nickname of Joko Widodo, is a former major in Solo of Central Java and is nominated by the winner of the legislative polls on April 9, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, and Kalla is former chairman of the second winner of the April polls the Golkar Party and still has a strong support in the eastern part of the archipelago country.

General Moeldoko made the call following the recent statement of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that scores of parties insist on approaching high-ranking military officers to side with a certain presidential candidate.

Similarly, the top Islamic organization in the country, the Indonesian Ulemas Council also called Muslims in the world's largest Muslim country to be neutral in the upcoming presidential race, Din Syamsuddin, chairman of the council said on Thursday.

Most of Indonesia's 238 million population are Muslims, dominated by those classified as moderate.