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PDI-P readies to take power
After 10 years, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has finally found the momentum needed to reclaim power
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After 10 years, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has finally found the momentum needed to reclaim power. In various surveys, the PDI-P has always topedp the list of parties based on voter preference. This is due to the declining popularity of the incumbent Democratic Party, which has found itself repeatedly tangled in high profile corruption cases.
At the same time, the PDI-P has introduced several figures who are not only popular but also known by the public for their integrity and clean track records. The most popular of those figures is Jakarta Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, who gained national and international prominence after he successfully led the Central Java city of Surakarta as mayor.
The PDI-P has consistently struggled for power to make radical and progressive changes in Indonesia. However, history has also shown that once the PDI-P is in power, the government it establishes has always under delivered on its promises.
The origins of the PDI-P can be traced back to 1927, during which Sukarno, who later became Indonesia's first president, founded the Indonesian National Party (PNI). Following Sukarno's downfall in the late 1960s, the PNI established a fusion of four major parties ' the Indonesian Christian Party (Parkindo), the Catholic Party, the Independence Vanguard Party (IPKI) and the Murba Party ' and, thus, the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) was born in 1973.
The PDI then became a recognizable 'balancing force' for the New Order's political machine, Golongan Karya (Golkar). Its existence was preserved simply because the New Order regime needed it to establish a pseudo-democratic general election to justify its rule over the nation.
But the PDI grew even stronger than the New Order had expected and the regime felt it needed to intervene to tame the party. In 1993, the regime placed Soerjadi as chairman despite the fact that most party members wanted Megawati Soekarnoputri, Sukarno's daughter, to become their leader. The internal feud then escalated to the July 27, 1996 bloody attack on the PDI headquarters in Central Jakarta, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of members.
After the attack, Megawati declared that her supporters would not take part in the 1997 general election, thus, severely weakened the PDI's performance in the election. The Soerjadi-led PDI only secured 11 seats in the House of Representatives.
In 1998, the New Order crumbled after an economic crisis escalated into a political and social crisis. Indonesia, for the first time in 32 years, allowed new political parties to be established and to participate in the general election. The pro-Megawati faction seized this momentum and founded the PDI-P, naming Megawati its chairwoman.
The PDI-P won the 1999 legislative election by earning a massive 33.74 percent of electoral votes. This, however, was not enough to deliver Megawati the presidency as other parties established a coalition to support Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid to lead Indonesia and offered her the post of vice president instead.
Two years later, Gus Dur was impeached after the House submitted a motion of distrust following an alleged graft scandal and Megawati became president with Hamzah Haz from the United Development Party (PPP) as vice president.
While hope lingered that Megawati could deliver changes under her presidency, it turned out that the government under her was no different than the one under the New Order. This led to widespread disappointment among Indonesians.
In 2004, Megawati was defeated in the first direct presidential election by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono from the Democratic Party.
Yudhoyono was once Megawati's most trusted aide and minister.
Megawati challenged Yudhoyono once again in 2009, but the latter was considered 'mildly successful' in his first term and, therefore, won the presidential battle once again. During this period, Megawati's husband, Taufiq Kiemas, tried to establish a coalition with Yudhoyono with the hope of getting several PDI-P members positions in the Cabinet.
Megawati, however, wanted to keep her pride intact. She asked all party members to not get involved in governance 'full of imagery politics'.
'Let's not be proud when we form a coalition with the powerful, but let us be proud when we cry and laugh together with the people,' Megawati told PDI-P members during the party's third convention in 2010.
Megawati's persistence came to fruition in 2014. Yudhoyono can no longer run for a third term due to a ruling in the 1945 Constitution and the popularity of the Democratic Party has reached an all-time low.Taufiq passed away in 2013, giving Megawati full control of her party.
The question among stakeholders right now is whether Megawati would like to run for president again or if she would rather give a chance to 'Crown Prince' Jokowi. Megawati has remained silent until now with regard to her final decision and PDI-P members have begun pushing for her to nominate Jokowi as they believe the momentum is now for the taking.
'At the very least, the candidacy should be officially announced by at least 20 days before the general election kicks off. The longer the party delays the announcement, the more likely it is for us to lose 'the Jokowi effect'. As we all know, he has been topping presidential surveys for months and this should be something we should take advantage of as the party who backs him,' senior PDI-P politician Eva Kusuma Sundari said.
