By Eveline Danubrata

JAKARTA (Reuters) – A former education minister in Muslim-majority Indonesia facing a run-off vote against a Christian to be Jakarta governor, on Tuesday denied pandering to Islamists to win support and said he could unite the capital after a divisive election.

Anies Baswedan is set to take on Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, Jakarta’s first Christian and ethnic Chinese governor, in a second-round vote on April 19. Purnama got the most votes in a first round, on Feb. 15, but not by enough to avoid a run-off, unofficial counts show.

Campaigning for the poll has been overshadowed by religious tensions, with protests led by hardline group Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) against Purnama, and calls for voters to choose a Muslim.

Photographs of Baswedan meeting FPI leader Habib Rizieq were widely published in media, leading his critics to accuse him of tarnishing his reputation as a moderate Muslim.

“I think there’s a framing that is not fair here,” Baswedan said in an interview at his Jakarta home.

“If I met the Catholic community, am I then considered no longer a Muslim? If I met the Buddhist community, am I then considered no longer a Muslim?”

He said the media was giving a distorted impression of his campaign, which included meetings with a range of religious groups.

“Often times, they only see one meeting, even though I’ve gone for dozens of other meetings,” Baswedan said, sitting with a portrait of Sukarno, Indonesia’s founding father, hanging on a wall near him.

“I interact with all residents of Jakarta.”

Baswedan, a respected academic who won a Fulbright scholarship to study in the United States, was picked by President Joko Widodo to be education minister, but was dropped from the cabinet in a reshuffle last year.

Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population but is officially secular and home to minority Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and other communities.

‘UNITE NOT DIVIDE’

The post of Jakarta governor has been a stepping stone to higher office. Widodo was previously governor and Purnama was his deputy.

The city vote is being widely seen as a proxy battle for the next presidential election, in 2019.

Purnama has the support of Widodo’s ruling party while Baswedan has the backing of an influential former general, Prabowo Subianto, and his Gerindra Party. Subianto narrowly lost the last presidential election, in 2014, to Widodo.

MORE:   http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/candidate-vying-to-lead-indonesian-capital-denies-pandering-to-islamists/42976322

(Additional reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Ed Davies and Robert Birsel)