An initial surprise came when the cadre-based modest party, which wins accolade for its unconventional recruitment system and remarkably smooth leadership change, picked as its congress venue Ritz-Carlton Hotel — one of America’s best symbols of capitalism attacked by terrorists last year.

The move may come as a jolt even to the most pessimistic observers and even more so to the more traditional supporters of the party, which is struggling to shed its image as an exclusive Islamist entity.
As for the invitation of the US ambassador, party leaders say they want to hear the US stance on Islam. A letter writing contest will be organized for children to “say something” to President Barack Obama.

Being seen as moving closer to the US sounds an oddity indeed for a party that has been associated with conservative Islam. Its most conspicuous outdoor activity is its anti-US and anti-Israel street rallies staged by a sea of sympathizers with white jilbab-clad women.

In the past, such a show of solidarity for the oppressed Palestinian Muslims was intense enough for critics to hurl such questions as to why the PKS gave so much concern to Palestinians while many more poor Muslims at home deserve more attention?

Nurmahmudi Ismail, a former PKS chairman who has become mayor of Depok, a satellite township just south of Jakarta, has helped aggravated fear of the party’s hidden agenda when he banned karaoke lounges on the pretext that they could give rise to moral decadence.

Such rallies impressed locals and foreigners alike for their unusually peaceful nature — so peaceful that people would not run in panic as soon as they knew the protesters in dominantly white carried the party banners.

The apparent pro-US maneuver is widely seen as the party’s bid to expand its spectrum of voters beyond the traditional educated urban Muslims. The PKS has to fight for voters with other popular Islamic parties, the much older United Development Party (PPP), National Awakening Party (PKB) and National Mandate Party (PAN).

The PKS leadership is obviously baffled by the party’s stagnant performance in the last two elections. In the 2009 elections, the PKS got 8.2 million or 7.8 percent of votes winning 57 seats in the House of Representatives, a slight increase from the  8.3 million (7.34 percent) or equivalent to 45 seats it gained in 2004.

The worry has also been worsened by the fact that all religious-based parties have not sold well throughout the country’s history because the Muslim majority likes nationalist parties better.

The PKS has been doing everything in vain to convince the public that it’s a “hybrid” party, a mix of religious-nationalist party open for non-Muslims. But suspicion remains that it harbors an ambition to turn Indonesia into a hardline Islamic state.

In 2008 it also grabbed some attention when it convened a congress in Bali, a staunchly Hindu territory and a stronghold of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), declaring that it was an “open” party.

As expected, the effort to make the PKS an inclusive party has met resistance from some more puritant members. But a survey showed that the party has won sympathy among rural, lower class commuities.

PKS leader chief Mahfudz Siddiq acknowledges it is not easy to erase the image of being an “exclusive party” because in it was founded by proponents of an Islamic state. In 2008, its law-making body had affirmed that it supported Pancasila as the state ideology.

The more progressive leaders such as Mahfudz are determined to make the party program-oriented and abandon the religious rhetorics as a means to fight for the increasingly segmented voters and modernize itself to win future elections.  

The latest move is a daring, risky political maneuver to make the PKS a modern, moderate political party.

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