Prosperous Justice Party

Infobox Indonesian Political Party
name_english = Prosperous Justice Party
name_native = Partai Keadilan Sejahtera

chair = Tifatul Sembiring
SecGen = Anis Matta
foundation = 1998
headquarters = Jakarta
DPRseats = 45 (8%)
ideology = Islam
website = http://www.pks.or.id
BallNo = 09The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS; Indonesian: "Partai Keadilan Sejahtera") is a political party in Indonesia. The party calls for a greater role for Islam in public life. PKS is currently led by Tifatul Sembiring.

The party was established as the Justice Party on July 20 1998, with Nurmahmudi Ismail as its first president. The Justice Party was reconstituted as the Prosperous Justice Party in April 2002 after the Justice Party failed to meet the required two percent of electoral threshold in the 1999 election that it needed to contest the 2004 election. [Justice Party to merge with Prosperous Justice Party. "Antara", April 16 2003.] During the 2004 legislative elections, the PKS won 7.3% of the popular vote and 45 out of 550 seats, making it the seventh-largest party in parliament. This was a gain from the 1.4% received in 1999. During the 2004 elections Hidayat Nur Wahid was the party leader; he stepped down after being elected head of the People's Consultative Assembly. The PKS endorsed Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the 2004 Presidential elections. PKS's strongest support is in major urban centers, particularly Jakarta, where it the largest share of seats in 2004.

The PKS is known for its public opposition to political corruption; this stance was widely reported as a major factor in the party's increased success in 2004. [General contenders, "Business Asia", May 3 2004.] The party is closely associated with Islamic teachings, but according to its leadership does not promote the mandatory implementation of sharia, requiring Indonesia's Muslims to follow Islamic law. [Indonesia: Islamic party not to implement Shari'ah "strictly" if elected. "BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific", May 3 2006.] Many of its campaigns are based on conservative religious teachings, such as opposition to the selling of pornography, [Alliance failes to coax PKS on porn bill. "The Jakarta Post", July 8 2006] and for strict punishments for violations of narcotics laws. [Gov't urged to execute convicted drug traffickers on death row soon. "Antara" March 22 2005]

The party has been associated with the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood; several of its founders attended Brotherhood-related schools. [Sadanand Dhume, [http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=6579 Indonesian democracy’s enemy within] , "YaleGlobal".] The organization stages rallies supporting the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel, and against the influence of the United States both in the Middle East and in Indonesia. [Parties protest Israeli attack, "The Jakarta Post", July 17 2006.]

After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, PKS sent volunteer relief workers to Aceh, [Ellen Nakashima, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7783-2005Jan13.html Indonesian Islamic party reaps rewards of goodwill] . "The Washington Post" January 14 2005.] and has been involved in several other relief and reconstruction projects.

References

ee also

*Bill against Pornography and Pornoaction

External links

* [http://pk-sejahtera.org/ Official website]