United Development Party
Encyclopedia
The United Development Party ( (PPP), sometimes translated as Development Unity Party is a political party
in Indonesia
. It is an islamic party and currently led by Suryadharma Ali.
The basis for the merger that would result in the birth of PPP was a coalition of the four Islamic Parties in the People's Representative Council
(DPR) called the United Development Faction. This faction consisted of Nahdatul Ulama
(NU), Muslim Party of Indonesia (Parmusi), The Islamic Association Party of Indonesia (PSII) and the Islamic Educational Movement (Perti).
With encouragement by the Government, officials from all 4 parties had meetings with each other and after finding some common ground, merged all of the 4 Islamic parties in Indonesia into the United Development Party on 5 January 1973. Despite this formal merging of the parties however, internal PPP politics under the Suharto government were dominated by the differing priorities of the original groups that formed the party.
, the Islamic groups had supported Suharto and aided in persecuting his political opponents. But as the regime had become corrupt and even more authoritarian, this alliance began to crumble. As the 1977 Legislative Elections approached, many began to seek for other options to vote for aside from the government-backed Golkar
.
Worried that PPP might win the Legislative Elections, Suharto played on the fears of the people by having ABRI arrest a group of people who claimed to be associated with the Jihad Commando (Komando Jihad). With this some People became worried that to vote for PPP and its Islamic leaning would mean to support the Jihad Commando and in a government growing increasingly authoritarian, many simply refused to be associated with the wrong side. Golkar would go on to win the Legislative Elections with 62% with PPP coming second with 27% of the votes.
PPP however, would not sit back and accept defeat. At the 1978 MPR General Session, PPP member Chalid Mawardi launched a scathing criticism of Suharto's regime. Mawardi accused the Government of being anti-Muslim, complained of the government's violent crackdown of dissent, and alleged that the 1977 Legislative Election was won because of electoral fraud
. PPP members also conducted a mass walkout when Suharto referred to religions as "streams of beliefs".
PPP seemed to have cemented itself a status as the strongest Opposition Party. It would not last long however. In 1984, NU, under its Chairman, Abdurrahman Wahid
withdrew from PPP and severely weakening it. The PPP vote share fell down from almost 28% in the 1982 Legislative Elections to 16% in the 1987 Legislative Elections. PPP was also forced by the government to replace its ideology of Islam with the national ideology of Pancasila and to stop using Islamic symbols. As a result, the party replaced its logo showing the Kabah
shrine in Mecca
with a star.
What Naro did was unprecedented as both Suharto and his Vice Presidents had always been elected unopposed. The problem this time was Suharto's choice for Vice President, Sudharmono
. Suharto's choice had caused a rift between him and his most loyal ally ABRI. Many within ABRI did not like Sudharmono because he spent more time behind a desk (Sudharmono was a Military Attorney) then as a Field Officer. Seeing a gap to exploit, Naro nominated himself possibly with the private support of ABRI who in public, had shown support to Sudharmono.
In the 1999 MPR General Session, PPP was part of the Central Axis, a political coalition of Muslim parties which was formed by MPR Chairman, Amien Rais to counter the dominance of Megawati Sukarnoputri
's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle
(PDI-P). The PDI-P had won the Legislative Election and Megawati was expected to win the Presidency. However, the MPR was still at this stage responsible for electing the President and Vice President and the Muslim Parties in the Central Axis did not want a female President. Instead, they nominated and successfully secured the election of Abdurrahman Wahid as President. In the Vice Presidential election, PPP Chairman Hamzah Haz
ran against Megawati and was defeated.
PPP was the first of Wahid's political allies to become disillusioned with him. PPP's main problem with Wahid was his visit to Israel
and the suggestion that he was willing to re-establish diplomatic relations with the nation. Hamzah who served in Wahid's Cabinet as Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, immediately resigned from his position just a month after Wahid had appointed him to it. Many other Wahid allies would follow and in July 2001, PPP would join in removing Wahid from the Presidency and naming Megawati as the President. Hamzah was then elected as Vice President after defeating Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
and Akbar Tanjung
in the Vice Presidential elections.
, a decrease from its 10.7% share of the vote in 1999, but enough to retain its place as the third-best represented party in the legislature, behind PDI-P and Golkar.
. They had originally expected that Hamzah would be picked as Megawati's running mate and continue the Megawati/Hamzah President/Vice President partnership. Megawati however, chose NU Chairman Hasyim Muzadi
as her running mate.
PPP then continued to wait, still expecting that Hamzah Haz would be picked as a Vice Presidential Candidate. Finally, with a day before the enlistments of President/Vice President candidates are closed, Hamzah moved forward and became PPP's Presidential Candidate. His running mate was Agum Gumelar, who served as Minister of Transportation in Megawati's Cabinet.
Hamzah's decision to run for President was disastrous as he received 3.1% of the votes in the Presidential Election and came 5th.
In August 2004, PPP announced that together with PDI-P, Golkar, Reform Star Party
(PBR) and Prosperous Peace Party
(PDS) they are forming a National Coalition to back Megawati to win the Presidential run-off against Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Yudhoyono however would emerge victorious and PPP would defect from the National Coalition to Yudhoyono's camp. They were rewarded by being given Cabinet places.
with 5.3 percent of the votes. It will have 37 seats in the People's Representative Council
.
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. It is an islamic party and currently led by Suryadharma Ali.
Origins
Ten political parties participated in the 1971 Legislative Elections, a number that President Suharto considered to be too much. Suharto wished that political parties be reduced to just two or three and that the parties should be grouped based on their programs.The basis for the merger that would result in the birth of PPP was a coalition of the four Islamic Parties in the People's Representative Council
People's Representative Council
The People's Representative Council , sometimes referred to as the House of Representatives, is one of two elected national legislative assemblies in Indonesia....
(DPR) called the United Development Faction. This faction consisted of Nahdatul Ulama
Nahdatul Ulama
Nahdlatul Ulama is a traditionalist Sunni Islam group in Indonesia.The NU was established on January 31, 1926 as a reaction to the modernist Muhammadiyah organization. In 1965, the group took sides with the General Suharto-led army and was heavily involved in the mass killings of Indonesian...
(NU), Muslim Party of Indonesia (Parmusi), The Islamic Association Party of Indonesia (PSII) and the Islamic Educational Movement (Perti).
With encouragement by the Government, officials from all 4 parties had meetings with each other and after finding some common ground, merged all of the 4 Islamic parties in Indonesia into the United Development Party on 5 January 1973. Despite this formal merging of the parties however, internal PPP politics under the Suharto government were dominated by the differing priorities of the original groups that formed the party.
Opposition to the New Order
In the mid-1970s, popular support for Suharto's regime was rapidly waning. When Suharto had seized power with a bloody military coup in 1965 and ousted President SukarnoSukarno
Sukarno, born Kusno Sosrodihardjo was the first President of Indonesia.Sukarno was the leader of his country's struggle for independence from the Netherlands and was Indonesia's first President from 1945 to 1967...
, the Islamic groups had supported Suharto and aided in persecuting his political opponents. But as the regime had become corrupt and even more authoritarian, this alliance began to crumble. As the 1977 Legislative Elections approached, many began to seek for other options to vote for aside from the government-backed Golkar
Golkar
The Party of the Functional Groups is a political party in Indonesia. It is also known as Sekber Golkar . It was the ruling party during Suharto's regime...
.
Worried that PPP might win the Legislative Elections, Suharto played on the fears of the people by having ABRI arrest a group of people who claimed to be associated with the Jihad Commando (Komando Jihad). With this some People became worried that to vote for PPP and its Islamic leaning would mean to support the Jihad Commando and in a government growing increasingly authoritarian, many simply refused to be associated with the wrong side. Golkar would go on to win the Legislative Elections with 62% with PPP coming second with 27% of the votes.
PPP however, would not sit back and accept defeat. At the 1978 MPR General Session, PPP member Chalid Mawardi launched a scathing criticism of Suharto's regime. Mawardi accused the Government of being anti-Muslim, complained of the government's violent crackdown of dissent, and alleged that the 1977 Legislative Election was won because of electoral fraud
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
. PPP members also conducted a mass walkout when Suharto referred to religions as "streams of beliefs".
PPP seemed to have cemented itself a status as the strongest Opposition Party. It would not last long however. In 1984, NU, under its Chairman, Abdurrahman Wahid
Abdurrahman Wahid
Abdurrahman Wahid, born Abdurrahman Addakhil , colloquially known as , was an Indonesian Muslim religious and political leader who served as the President of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001...
withdrew from PPP and severely weakening it. The PPP vote share fell down from almost 28% in the 1982 Legislative Elections to 16% in the 1987 Legislative Elections. PPP was also forced by the government to replace its ideology of Islam with the national ideology of Pancasila and to stop using Islamic symbols. As a result, the party replaced its logo showing the Kabah
Kaaba
The Kaaba is a cuboid-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham, or Ibraheem, in Arabic, and his son Ishmael, or Ismaeel, as said in Arabic, after he had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque...
shrine in Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
with a star.
1988 MPR General Session
At the 1988 MPR General Session, Jaelani Naro, the PPP Chairman, was nominated as Vice President. Suharto, who had been elected to the Presidency for a 5th term at the aforementioned General Session intervened. He cited a decision that the MPR made in 1973 that one of the criteria for a Vice President was that he should be able to work with the President. Suharto also conducted discussions with Naro and convinced him to withdraw the nomination.What Naro did was unprecedented as both Suharto and his Vice Presidents had always been elected unopposed. The problem this time was Suharto's choice for Vice President, Sudharmono
Sudharmono
Sudharmono was Indonesia's fifth vice president, and was in office during the period 1988 - 1993.-Early life:...
. Suharto's choice had caused a rift between him and his most loyal ally ABRI. Many within ABRI did not like Sudharmono because he spent more time behind a desk (Sudharmono was a Military Attorney) then as a Field Officer. Seeing a gap to exploit, Naro nominated himself possibly with the private support of ABRI who in public, had shown support to Sudharmono.
PPP in the Reform era
PPP continued as the second biggest Party out of the three allowed in the New Order. In May 1998, after Suharto's fall, PPP returned to its Islamic ideology and prepared itself for the 1999 Legislative Elections where it won 11% of the votes.In the 1999 MPR General Session, PPP was part of the Central Axis, a political coalition of Muslim parties which was formed by MPR Chairman, Amien Rais to counter the dominance of Megawati Sukarnoputri
Megawati Sukarnoputri
In this Indonesian name, the name "Sukarnoputri" is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name "Megawati"....
's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle
Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle
The Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle 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...
(PDI-P). The PDI-P had won the Legislative Election and Megawati was expected to win the Presidency. However, the MPR was still at this stage responsible for electing the President and Vice President and the Muslim Parties in the Central Axis did not want a female President. Instead, they nominated and successfully secured the election of Abdurrahman Wahid as President. In the Vice Presidential election, PPP Chairman Hamzah Haz
Hamzah Haz
Hamzah Haz is an Indonesian politician. He is the head of the United Development Party and served as the ninth Vice-President from 2001 until 2004....
ran against Megawati and was defeated.
PPP was the first of Wahid's political allies to become disillusioned with him. PPP's main problem with Wahid was his visit to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and the suggestion that he was willing to re-establish diplomatic relations with the nation. Hamzah who served in Wahid's Cabinet as Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, immediately resigned from his position just a month after Wahid had appointed him to it. Many other Wahid allies would follow and in July 2001, PPP would join in removing Wahid from the Presidency and naming Megawati as the President. Hamzah was then elected as Vice President after defeating Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono AC , is an Indonesian politician and retired Army general officer who has been President of Indonesia since 2004....
and Akbar Tanjung
Akbar Tanjung
Akbar Tanjung is an Indonesian politician who is a former chairman of Golkar party. He was the Speaker of the People's Representative Council from 1999 to 2004...
in the Vice Presidential elections.
2004 Legislative Elections
PPP received 8.1% of the vote in the 2004 legislative electionsIndonesian legislative election, 2004
Indonesia held legislative elections on 5 April 2004 for both houses of the People's Consultative Assembly, the country's national legislature...
, a decrease from its 10.7% share of the vote in 1999, but enough to retain its place as the third-best represented party in the legislature, behind PDI-P and Golkar.
2004 Presidential Elections
PPP originally did not have a Presidential Candidate in mind for the 2004 presidential electionsIndonesian presidential election, 2004
The first direct presidential election in Indonesia was held in two rounds on 5 July and 20 September 2004. Prior to a 2002 amendment to the Constitution of Indonesia, the President and Vice President was elected by the country's top legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly.Under the...
. They had originally expected that Hamzah would be picked as Megawati's running mate and continue the Megawati/Hamzah President/Vice President partnership. Megawati however, chose NU Chairman Hasyim Muzadi
Hasyim Muzadi
Achmad Hasyim Muzadi is currently the Chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia.-Political career:...
as her running mate.
PPP then continued to wait, still expecting that Hamzah Haz would be picked as a Vice Presidential Candidate. Finally, with a day before the enlistments of President/Vice President candidates are closed, Hamzah moved forward and became PPP's Presidential Candidate. His running mate was Agum Gumelar, who served as Minister of Transportation in Megawati's Cabinet.
Hamzah's decision to run for President was disastrous as he received 3.1% of the votes in the Presidential Election and came 5th.
In August 2004, PPP announced that together with PDI-P, Golkar, Reform Star Party
Reform Star Party
- Background :The party began as a movement within the United Development Party to depose Vice-president Hamzah Haz from the chairmanship, which he held for the 1998-2003 term, as it was felt he would not have time to run the party and hold the vice-presidency. The movement's leader was Zainuddin...
(PBR) and Prosperous Peace Party
Prosperous Peace Party
The Prosperous Peace Party is a Christian-democratic political party in Indonesia. It portrays itself as the reincarnation of Parkindo, the Indonesian Christian Party, which contested the 1955 and 1971 elections...
(PDS) they are forming a National Coalition to back Megawati to win the Presidential run-off against Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Yudhoyono however would emerge victorious and PPP would defect from the National Coalition to Yudhoyono's camp. They were rewarded by being given Cabinet places.
2007 Party Congress
PPP held its 6th National Congress in Jakarta from 30 January to 3 February 2007. On the last day of the Congress, Suryadharma Ali emerged as the new PPP Chairman to replace Hamzah. Suryadharma currently serves as Minister of Cooperatives and State and Medium Enterprises in President Yudhoyono's Cabinet. He has announced that he will continue as Minister while concurrently holding the position of PPP Chairman.2009 Legislative Election
The party came sixth in the 2009 legislative electionIndonesian legislative election, 2009
Legislative elections were held in Indonesia on 9 April 2009 for 132 seats of the Regional Representative Council and 560 seats of the People's Representative Council . A total of 38 parties met the requirements to be allowed to participate in the national elections, with a further six contesting...
with 5.3 percent of the votes. It will have 37 seats in the People's Representative Council
People's Representative Council
The People's Representative Council , sometimes referred to as the House of Representatives, is one of two elected national legislative assemblies in Indonesia....
.
Regional strength
In the legislative election held on 9 April 2009, support for the PPP was higher than the party's national average in the following provinces:- AcehAcehAceh is a special region of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. Its full name is Daerah Istimewa Aceh , Nanggroë Aceh Darussalam and Aceh . Past spellings of its name include Acheh, Atjeh and Achin...
6.2%
- West SumatraWest SumatraWest Sumatra is a province of Indonesia. It lies on the west coast of the island Sumatra. It borders the provinces of North Sumatra to the north, Riau and Jambi to the east, and Bengkulu to the southeast. It includes the Mentawai Islands off the coast...
6.8%
- Riau 7.2%
- West JavaWest JavaWest Java , with a population of over 43 million, is the most populous and most densely populated province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, it is slightly smaller in area than densely populated Taiwan, but with nearly double the population...
6.3%
- BantenBantenBanten is a province of Indonesia in Java. Formerly part of the Province of West Java, it was made a separate province in 2000.The administrative center is Serang. Preliminary results from the 2010 census counted some 10.6 million people.-Geography:...
8.7%
- Central JavaCentral JavaCentral Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java.This province is the province of high Human Development in Indonesia and its Points Development Index countries is equivalent to Lebanon. The province of Central Java...
6.2%
- West KalimantanWest KalimantanWest Kalimantan is a province of Indonesia. It is one of four Indonesian provinces in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city Pontianak is located right on the Equator....
5.9%
- Central KalimantanCentral KalimantanCentral Kalimantan is a province of Indonesia, one of four in Kalimantan - the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its provincial capital is Palangka Raya.The province has a population of just over 2.2 million at the 2010 Census...
6.1%
- South KalimantanSouth KalimantanSouth Kalimantan/South Borneo is one of the thirty-three Provinces of Indonesia and one of four Indonesian provinces in the Indonesian part of Borneo. The provincial capital is Banjarmasin...
10.4%
- East KalimantanEast KalimantanEast Kalimantan is the second largest Indonesian province, located on the Kalimantan region on the east of Borneo island. The resource-rich province has two major cities, Samarinda and Balikpapan...
5.7%
- GorontaloGorontalo (province)Gorontalo is a province of Indonesia on the northern part of Sulawesi. The province was established in December 2000 after being split from North Sulawesi province...
14.5%
- West Papua 5.3%
Chairman
- Muhammad Syafaat Mintareja (1973–1978)
- Jaelani Naro (1978–1989)
- Ismail Hasan Metareum (1989–1998)
- Hamzah HazHamzah HazHamzah Haz is an Indonesian politician. He is the head of the United Development Party and served as the ninth Vice-President from 2001 until 2004....
(1998–2007) - Suryadharma Ali (2007-)