By: thejakartapost.com
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/
Indonesia is home to the largest Muslim population in the world. Yet, Muslim-based political parties have failed to excel in general elections as voters prefer parties with nationalistic platforms as opposed to Islamic ones. The Jakarta Post’s Hasyim Widhiarto takes a closer look at the matter, as well as presenting a piece on the distinctive nature of West Java’s Tasikmalaya region, while Indra Harsaputra dishes up a sidebar on a few of the traits of East Java. West and East Java respectively the country’s most-populous and second-most populous provinces are crucial areas for ensuring victory in the five-yearly political event.
A look at the country’s 10 general elections in the 1955-2009 period shows that internal rifts and systematic government pressure have been the main factors behind Islamic parties and their elites failing to dominate formal leadership in Indonesia, a country in which almost 90 percent of its 240 million people are Muslims.
One of the earliest attempts to provide a common political platform for Indonesian Muslims can be traced back to November 1945, when leaders of major Muslim organizations, including the country’s largest, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), and second-largest Muhammadiyah, reached an agreement to establish the Masyumi Party at a congress in Yogyakarta.
To accommodate the interests of its supporting organizations, some of NU’s most respected clerics, such as Hasyim Asy’ari and Wahid Hasyim, were assigned to lead Masyumi’s majelis syuro (religious council), while many Muhammadiyah members and modernist Muslim intellectuals like Sukiman, Mohammad Natsir and Mohammad Roem, dominated the party’s executive board.
Such a leadership structure, however, failed to satisfy the different factions within the party. In 1952, NU eventually decided to quit Masyumi and formed an independent political party.
When the country’s first general election was finally held in 1955, Masyumi and NU secured 20.9 percent and 18.4 percent, respectively, of the vote, putting them in second and third behind former president Sukarno’s Indonesian National Party (PNI), which secured 22.3 percent. The results show that had NU stayed with Masyumi, the united party could easily have won the election.
Masyumi, however, saw its political journey terminated after Sukarno dissolved the party and the Indonesian Socialist Party (PSI) in August 1960 due to their affiliation with the West Sumatra-based Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PRRI) rebel group.
Following Masyumi’s departure from the political scene, four Islamic parties, namely NU, the Indonesian Muslims Party (Parmusi), the Indonesian Islamic Union Party (PSII) and the Islamic Education Union (Perti), performed poorly in the 1971 general election. Of the 10 participating parties, the four Islamic parties gathered a combined total of 27.1 percent of votes, far lower than the 62.82 percent secured by Golongan Karya (Golkar) Party, a secular-nationalist organization founded by president Soeharto, who unseated Sukarno in 1967, 18 months after the failed coup attempt that was blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).
In a bid to promote political stability, Soeharto reduced in 1973 the number of election participants from 10 to three. While Golkar Party remained a participant, four Islamic parties were forced to merge to become the United Development Party (PPP), while the remaining five parties the PNI, the Indonesian Christian Party (Parkindo), the Catholic Party, the Independence Vanguard Party (IPKI) and the Murba Party merged to become the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
An Islamic studies expert at the University of Indonesia (UI), Yon Machmudi, said he considered the forced merger to be the biggest blow to the country’s Islamic political movement. “The four parties that formed the PPP represented different Islamic cultures and communities. There is no way they could work together since the way they managed their support bases was totally different from one another,” he said.
The government-sanctioned political fusion, indeed, put the PPP and the PDI in a David and Goliath-type contest against Golkar Party, which scored landslide victories in all five general elections between 1977 and 1997. Golkar’s victory in 1997 also helped Soeharto to secure his seventh term in office, making him one of the world’s longest-serving dictators.
The Islamic political movement in the country regained its momentum after Soeharto stepped down in 1998. Soon after President BJ Habibie’s administration announced a plan to call a fresh election the following year, dozens of new Islamic political parties were established. Among them were the NU-sanctioned National Awakening Party (PKB); the Crescent Star Party (PBB), a party that claimed to be an incarnation of Masyumi, and the Justice Party, which was established by Islamic tarbiyah (education) campaigners.
Not all leading political figures believed that the majority of Muslims voters would be easily persuaded to turn to these Islamic parties, however. In his highly acclaimed book, A Nation in Waiting, Adam Schwarz recorded why Muhammadiyah chairman and influential Reform movement leader Amien Rais decided to turn down a chairmanship offer from the PPP and instead established the National Mandate Party (PAN). “If I stick completely with a Muslim constituency, I will never make a difference,” Amien told Schwarz in August 1998. “I will never be able to push the country in a democratic direction.”
The rise of Indonesia’s Islamic political movement also concerned Golkar Party during the 1999 general elections. In his 2007 book, The Golkar Way, senior Golkar politician Akbar Tandjung recalled how some among the Golkar elite raised the issue during the party’s extraordinary congress in 1998, at which he was running head-to-head against Army general Edi Sudradjat for the party’s top post.
Akbar, a former Association of Islamic Students (HMI) chairman, said a rumor had been circulating that he was running to become Golkar Party chair to incorporate an Islamist political agenda within the party; an allegation Akbar strongly denied.
“The drafting of the Golkar executive board members in Golkar’s 1998 Munaslub [extraordinary congress], however, clearly showed the application of the party’s pluralist platform,” wrote Akbar, who led Golkar Party between 1998 and 2004.
The 1999 general election ended up with victory by another nationalist party. This time, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), led by Sukarno’s daughter, Megawati Soekarnoputri, won the election after securing 33.74 percent of votes, followed by Golkar Party with 22.44 percent votes, the PKB with 12.6 percent, the PPP with 10.71 percent and PAN, which relied heavily on support from Muhammadiyah constituents, with 7.12 percent.
Although the Islamic parties managed to consolidate their support to establish NU figure Abdurrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur, as president in the same year, their vulnerable coalition did not last long, with the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) voting unanimously to unseat Gus Dur in 2001, bringing then-vice president Megawati to power.
From the 24 political parties participating in the 2004 general election, Golkar overtook the PDI-P as the country’s largest party by a margin of 3.3 percent. Meanwhile, the combined votes secured by all the Islamic political parties increased slightly from 36 to 38 percent.
Learning from her losses in both the 2004 legislative and presidential elections, Megawati established in 2007 the Baitul Muslimin Indonesia (Bamusi) in the hope of attracting Muslim voters to the PDI-P.
This move did not help, however. In the 2009 general election, the PDI-P only garnered 14 percent of the vote and finished third behind President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party and Golkar. The PKB, which had finished third in previous elections, sank to seventh place with only 4.95 percent of votes; a collapse that was primarily due to a long-standing conflict between the party’s cofounder and former president, Gus Dur, and Muhaimin Iskandar, Gus Dur’s nephew, over the party’s chairmanship.
In the wake of the Gus Dur-Muhaimin conflict, many NU members became disenchanted with the PKB and wanted to leave the party. “However, their emotional attachment to the NU prevented them from jumping ship to secular parties like the PDI-P; so, instead, they chose to either stay [with the PKB] or join other Islamic parties,” said Maskut Candranegara, a former official with the NU’s Ansor youth movement.
Political observer Burhanuddin Muhtadi agrees that the five Islam-based parties set to compete in the upcoming general elections — the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the PPP, PAN, the PKB and the PBB — are finally being more pragmatic. “Even the PKS, the largest Islamic party in the House [of Representatives], is now trying to reposition itself as a catch-all party,” he said.
The PKS was considered one of the rising stars in Indonesian politics, toppling the PPP’s dominance among Muslim voters in less than 10 years. It has been struggling to retain its popularity, however, after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) revealed last year the involvement of its former chairman, Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, in a high-profile graft case.
Yon Machmudi said he believed it was still possible for the country’s Islamic parties to form a coalition — at least for this year’s upcoming presidential election — if they discovered an influential and highly popular figure who could convince all their elites to work together.
Aug. 17, 1945
Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declare Indonesian independence.
Nov. 3
Vice President Hatta issues a government announcement encouraging citizens to establish political parties ahead of
the country’s fi rst general elections, scheduled in January 1946.
1955
After a long period of political instability and a series of armed conflicts against the Dutch army and rebel groups, Indonesia finally holds its first general elections with 172 political parties participating. The elections are held twice on Sep. 29 to elect members of the House of Representatives, and on Dec. 15 to elect members of Konstituante, a body assigned to write the country’s new Constitution.
July 5, 1959
President Sukarno dissolves the Konstituante after it fails to complete the country’s new Constitution.
June 4, 1960
Sukarno dissolves the House of Representatives following its refusal to approve the government’s proposed state budget. Sukarno then establishes a new House of Representatives whose members he handpicks.
1965
A coup attempt that is blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) fails, leading to massive social and political unrest.
March 12, 1967
Soeharto, an Army general, is officially inaugurated as Indonesia’s second president in a special session of the Provisional People’s Consultative Assembly (MPRS).
1971
Nine political parties and the Functional Group (Golongan Karya, or Golkar), participate in Indonesia’s second general elections. Golkar finishes first after it secures 62.8 percent of the total vote.
1973
Following Soeharto’s proposal to simplify the Indonesian election process, four Islamic parties merge as the United Development Party (PPP), while three nationalist parties, a Christian party and a Catholic party, merge as the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). Despite having no legal standing as a political party, Golkar retains its status as an election contestant.
1977-1997
Golkar wins all five general elections in the period with landslide victories.
1998
Soeharto steps down following mounting public pressure. President BJ Habibie, who succeeds him, agrees to cut his own term short so that another general election can be held immediately.
1999
Forty eight political parties contest Indonesia’s general elections. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), a party led by Sukarno’s daughter Megawati Soekarnoputri, wins the election, followed by Golkar, the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the PPP.
2004
Indonesia holds its 9th general elections, contested by 24 political parties. Golkar returns to the top after snatching 21.62 percent of the total vote. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired army general, wins the country’s first-ever direct presidential election.
2009
Thirty-four political parties contest Indonesia’s 10th general election. Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party (PD) finishes first after it secures 20.81 percent of the total vote