Indonesian Democratic Party

Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan
Chairperson	Megawati Sukarnoputri
Secretary-General	Pramono Anung W
Founded	1998
Headquarters	Jakarta
Ideology	Pancasila
International affiliation	Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats
DPR seats	94 / 560
Website
pdiperjuangan.or.id
Politics of Indonesia Political parties Elections

The Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle^[1] (PDI-P) is an Indonesian political party. It is led by Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Indonesian independence leader and first president Sukarno. Megawati was President of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004. The party's ideology is based on the official Indonesian national philosophy, Pancasila.

Origins

At the 1993 National Congress, Megawati Sukarnoputri was elected Chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party, one of the two political parties recognised by President Suharto's "New Order" government. This result was not recognised by the Government and they continued to push for Budi Harjono, their candidate for the Chairpersonship to be elected. A Special Congress was held where the Government expected to have Harjono elected, but Megawati once again emerged as elected leader. Her position was consolidated further when a PDI National Assembly ratified the results of the Congress.

In June 1996, another National Congress was held in the of Medan, to which Megawati was not invited; anti-Megawati members were in attendance. With the Government's backing, Suryadi, a former Chairperson was re-elected as PDI's Chairperson. Megawati refused to acknowledge the results of this congress and continued to see herself as the rightful leader of PDI.

On the morning of 27 July 1996, Suryadi threatened to take back PDI's Headquarters in Jakarta.^[2] Suryadi's supporters (reportedly with the Government's backing) attacked the PDI Headquarters and faced resistance from Megawati supporters who had been stationed there since the National Congress in Medan. In the ensuing fight, Megawati's supporters managed to hold on to the headquarters. A riot ensued—at that stage considered the worst that Jakarta had seen during the "New Order" years—which was followed by a Government crackdown, which later blamed the riots on the People's Democracy Party (PRD). Despite being overthrown as Chairperson by Suryadi and the Government, the event lifted Megawati's profile immensely, providing both sympathy and national popularity.

PDI was now divided into two factions, Megawati's faction and Suryadi's faction. Megawati's faction had wanted to participate in the 1997 Legislative Elections, but the Government only recognized Suryadi's faction. In the 1997 Legislative Elections, Megawati and her supporters threw their support behind the United Development Party leaving PDI to with 3% of the votes. Following Suharto's resignation and the lifting of the "New Order" restriction to three national political parties, Megawati declared the formation of PDI-P, adding the suffix perjuangan ("struggle") to differentiate her faction of PDI from the Government backed one. Megawati was elected Chairperson of PDI-P and was nominated for Indonesian President in 1999.

History

1999 Legislative Elections

PDI-P was by far the most popular political party coming into the 1999 Legislative Elections. With 33% of the votes, PDI-P emerged victorious.

1999 People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) General Session

As the 1999 MPR General Session loomed closer, it was expected that PDI-P would once again play the dominant role. However, despite winning the Legislative Elections, PDI-P did not have absolute majority. Despite this however, PDI-P never formed a coalition with any of the other political parties in the lead up to the 1999 MPR General Session. The closest thing PDI-P had to a coalition was a loose alliance with Abdurrahman Wahid's National Awakening Party (PKB).

The Presidency looked set to be contested by Megawati and the then incumbent BJ Habibie of Golkar who was looking for a second term. However, MPR Chairman Amien Rais had other ideas as he formed a coalition called the Central Axis which consisted of Muslim Parties. Amien also announced that he would like to nominate Wahid as President. PKB, their alliance with PDI-P never cemented, now moved over to the Central Axis. Golkar then joined this coalition after Habibie's accountability speech was rejected and he withdrew from the race.

It finally came down to Megawati and Wahid. Wahid, with a powerful coalition backing him was elected as Indonesia's 4th President with 373 votes to Megawati's 313.

The PDI-P supporters were outraged. As the winners of the Legislative Elections, they expected to win the Presidential Elections also. PDI-P masses began rioting in cities such as Jakarta, Solo and Medan. The normally peaceful Bali was also involved in pro-Megawati protests. Wahid then realized that there was a need to recognize PDI-P's status as the winners of the Legislative Elections. With that, he encouraged Megawati to run for the Vice Presidency.

Megawati rejected this offer when she saw that she had to face opponents such as United Development Party's (PPP) Hamzah Haz and Golkar's Akbar Tanjung and Wiranto. After some politicking by Wahid, Akbar and Wiranto withdrew from the race. Wahid also ordered PKB to throw their weight behind Megawati. Megawati was now confident and competed in the Vice Presidential elections. She was elected as Vice President with 396 votes to Hamzah's 284.

2000 Party Congress

The First PDI-P Congress was held in Semarang, Central Java in April 2000, during which Megawati was re-elected as the Chairperson of PDI-P for a 2nd term.

The Congress was noted as one where Megawati consolidated her position within PDI-P by taking harsh measures to remove potential rivals.^[3] During the election for the Chairperson, two other candidates emerged in the form of Eros Djarot and Dimyati Hartono. Both Eros and Dimyati ran for the Chairpersonship because they did not want Megawati to hold the PDI-P Chairpersonship while concurrently being Vice President.

For Eros, when finally received his nomination from the South Jakarta branch, membership problems arose and made his nomination void. Eros was then not allowed to go and participate in the congress. Disillusioned with what he perceived to be a cult of personality developing around Megawati, Eros left PDI-P. In July 2002, he would form the Freedom Bull National Party.

For Dimyati, although his candidacy was not opposed as harshly as Djarot's, he was removed from his position as Head of PDI-P's Central Branch. He kept his position as a People's Representative Council (DPR) member but retired in February 2002. In April 2002, Dimyati formed the Our Homeland of Indonesia Party (PITA).

PDI-P During Wahid's Presidency

Although it had not supported Wahid to the Presidency, PDI-P members received ministerial positions in his cabinet because of Megawati's position as Vice President. As time went on, much like the Central Axis that had supported Wahid, PDI-P would grow disillusioned with Wahid. In April 2000, Laksamana Sukardi, a PDI-P member who held position as Minister of Investments and State Owned Enterprises was sacked from his position. When PDI-P enquired as to why this was done, Wahid claimed it was because of corruption but never backed up his claim.

The relationship improved somewhat when later in the year, Wahid authorized Megawati as the Vice President to manage the day-to-day running of the Government. However, Megawati and PDI-P had slowly but surely started to distance themselves from Wahid and join forces with the Central Axis. Finally, in July 2001 at a Special Session of the MPR, Wahid was removed as President. Megawati was then elected as President to replace him with Hamzah as her Vice President.

Further Splits Within the Party

PDI-P faced further splits after Megawati became President with more disillusioned members leaving the Party.

Two of these members were Megawati's own sisters. In May 2002, Sukmawati Sukarnoputri formed the Indonesian National Party Marhaenism (PNI-Marhaenisme). This was followed in November 2002, with Rachmawati Sukarnoputri declaring the formation of the Pioneers' Party (PP).

2004 Legislative Elections

By 2004, the reformist sentiments that had led PDI-P to victory in the 1999 Legislative Elections had died down. Many were disappointed with what Reformation had achieved thus far and were also disappointed with Megawati's Presidency. This reflected itself in the 2004 legislative election, PDI-P obtained 18.5% of the total vote, down from the 33.7% it obtained during the 1999 legislative election. [1]

2004 Presidential Elections

PDI-P nominated Megawati as its Presidential candidate for the 2004 Presidential Election.

Many running mates were considered, including Hamzah Haz (To renew their partnership from), Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and Jusuf Kalla (the eventual winners). Finally, Megawati elected Nahdatul Ulama Chairman Hasyim Muzadi as her running mate. It was expected that Megawati would appeal to Nationalist sentiments while Hasyim would appeal to Islamist ones. In the first round of elections, Megawati/Hasyim came second to Yudhoyono/Kalla.

To improve Megawati's chances in the run-off, PDI-P, formed a coalition with PPP, Golkar, Reform Star Party (PBR) and Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) in August 2004. However Megawati/Hasyim was convincingly beaten in the run-off against Yudhoyono/Kalla.

The National Coalition then turned their eyes on being oppositions for the Yudhoyono/Kalla Government in DPR. With Kalla's election as Chairman of Golkar, Golkar defected onto the Government's side, leaving PDI-P as the only major opposition party in the DPR.

2005 Party Congress

On 28 March 2005, the Second PDI-P Congress was held in Sanur, Bali where Megawati was re-elected to the Chairpersonship of PDI-P for a 3rd term. Her brother, Guruh Sukarnoputra, was chosen as Head of the Party's Education and Culture department.

This congress was noted for the formation of a faction called the Renewal of PDI-P Movement. This movement called for a renewal of the Party leadership if it is to win the 2009 Legislative Elections. Although they attended the Congress, the members of the Renewal of the PDI-P movement left once Megawati was re-elected. In December 2005, these same members would form the Democratic Renewal Party (PDP).

2009 Legislative Election

The party came third in the 2009 legislative election with 14.0 percent of the votes. It will have 95 seats in the People's Representative Council.^[4][5]

2009 Presidential Election

Once again, Megawati is chosen as the presidential candidate, this time with a coalition between the Great Indonesia Movement Party and PDI-P themselves, with Prabowo Subianto as the vice-presidential candidate. Yet again, they lost out to eventual winners Yudhoyono, with Boediono as vice-president. PDI-P went second by 26,6%.

Regional strength

In the legislative election held on 9 April 2009, support for the PDI-P was higher than the party's national average in the following provinces:

• Bangka-Belitung Islands 21.1%

• West Java 14.7%

• Central Java 21.9%

• Yogyakarta 15.7%

• East Java 16.2%

• West Kalimantan 22.9%

• Central Kalimantan 24.9%

• Bali 40.1%

• West Papua 31.6%

• North Sulawesi 23.4%

List of Chairperson

• Megawati Sukarnoputri (1998–)

External links

• (Indonesian) 1999 Legislative Elections Profile
• (Indonesian) Article on Megawati/Hasyim

References

Indonesia portal

1. ^ Indonesian: Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan.
2. ^ B., Edy (10 August 1996). "Kronologi Peristiwa 27 Juli 1996". Tempo. http://www.tempointeraktif.com/ang/min/01/23/utama1.htm. Retrieved 31 October 2006. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ Firmansyah, Arif (11 February 2005). "Kisah Para Penantang Yang Terpental (The Story of the Ousted Challengers)". Tempo. http://www.tempointeraktif.com/hg/narasi/2005/02/11/nrs,20050211-03,id.html. Retrieved 2 November 2006. 
4. ^ Indonesian General Election Commission website Official Election Results
5. ^ Indonesian General Election Commission website KPU Ubah Perolehan Kursi Parpol di DPR (KPU Changes Allocations of Parties' seats in the DPR (15 May 2009)) Access date 24 May 2009 (indonesian)