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It is often said that politics and religion are subjects to avoid at all costs. And it seems that most believe the two should also be avoided in government, according to the results of a poll by the Indonesian Survey Institute released on Thursday.

Upon being asked which were the most important criteria for selecting ministers in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s new government, respondents overwhelmingly avoided politicians and religious figures.

In the poll of 1,270 people, 78.3 percent of respondents said professional qualifications were the most important factor for selecting ministers, rather than their political, religious, ethnic or regional affiliations.

Only 22.7 percent of respondents said they believed ministers should be selected based on their political leanings, according to Dodi Ambardi, the director of the institute, also known as the LSI. The survey was conducted from July 18 to 28 among respondents selected using multistage random sampling techniques. The margin of error was 2.8 percentage points.

Nearly 74 percent of respondents who live in provincial villages and 85.2 percent of residents in urban areas and cities wanted professionals to sit in the next cabinet. Only 11.5 percent of respondents said it was acceptable if ministers came from certain political parties or religious groups.

“This has proven that the people of Indonesia expect Yudhoyono to choose qualified professionals in forming his cabinet,” Dodi said.

He said that even respondents from Java, home to about half of the country’s population, viewed professional qualifications as more important than adhering to the traditional model, which has seen proportional numbers of Javanese and non-Javanese ministers appointed.

J Kristiadi, a political analyst from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said candidates should have expertise in the government ministry they were nominated for, strong ethics and social responsibility.

He said that even if cabinet seats had to be divided among political parties that were part of Yudhoyono’s coalition, the candidates should still have professional skills in their nominated field.

“We demand Yudhoyono, who won more than 60 percent of the vote in the election, use his [mandate] to choose the right people,” Kristiadi said.

Ichsan Mojo, an economist from the Institute for the Development of Economics and Finance, said it would be virtually impossible for the president to choose a cabinet without having representatives from political parties.

However, he said he hoped that two key ministerial posts, industry and agriculture, would be given to qualified, apolitical professionals.

“Those posts are in the real sectors, so if it’s not a professional who holds the position, we can’t expect much from them in terms of handling problems like economic growth, poverty and unemployment,” he said.