The national political movement in Indonesia is believed to have emerged in the early 20th century during the Dutch colonial era, when Indonesians began to realize their shared goals of earning independence through a nationwide movement.

The Indische Partij, established on Dec. 25, 1912 by Douwes Dekker, Ki Hadjar Dewantara and Tjipto Mangunkoesoemo, is widely regarded as the oldest party in Indonesia, which marked the raising of awareness of the people in their pursuit of independence.

But the embryo of modern political organization appeared before that. According to a book titled The History of Political Parties and General Elections in Indonesia, authored by Kevin Raymond Evans, the birth of political party activism “occurred in the wake of a change in colonial policy” amid a low level of living standards among Indonesians despite producing enormous wealth for the Netherlands.

The introduction of the Ethical Policy in 1901 opened access to education for Indonesian youths. In 1908, a group of educated Javanese civil servants established an organization known as Noble Endeavor, which was aimed at improving standards of Javanese education as well as promoting its culture by adopting the Malay language, now called Bahasa Indonesia, as its language of communication.

A year later, The Islamic Merchants Guild was formed, which served as a trading association among Muslim traders. This commercial group turned more political and became known as the Islamic Association Party of Indonesia (PSII). In 1973, during the New Order Era, the PSII was merged into the United Development Party (PPP).

The late 19th century also marked the emergence of reinvigorated Islam, which was specifically felt by those undertaking a pilgrimage to Mecca and traveling elsewhere in the Middle East. This moment also marked the entrance of Islamic modernism to Indonesia, which aimed to counter prevailing superstition and traditionalism. The concept turned out to be well received particularly in the coastal trading cities across the archipelago.

In 1912, Islamic modernist organization Muhammadiyah was founded. It brought change to traditional education methods as it adopted modern Western styles as part of its focus of providing social service. The organization is now widely associated with the National Mandate Party (PAN).

In 1926, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which is now known as the country’s largest Muslim organization, was established. Its establishment marked the awakening of Islamic Scholars. The group brought together Islamic leaders particularly from eastern Java, who wished to keep the traditional practices amid an insurgence of modernist Islam.

NU is widely associated with the National Awakening Party (PKB), which was founded in 1998 and stood in the 1999 election. Over time, the party began to be described as a nationalist Muslim party that promotes inclusivity and nationalist principles.

In the last several decades of Dutch rule, the colonizers had to struggle to sustain their political authority amid a steady growth of awareness among Indonesians, who began to set aside their identity as Javanese, Ambonese, Sumatran and so on, and began to see themselves as Indonesians despite the plural nature of the country.

In 1928, Indonesians adopted Bahasa Indonesia as its language of struggle for independence, through the famed declaration of The Youth Pledge.

When the Japanese began to occupy and replace the Dutch in the early 1940s, they used a growing anti-Western sentiment as a source of power to assist their own Great East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. They also saw Islam as a potential source of anti-Western support.

During their rule, political activities were banned, except Muslim groups, which then established the Islam-based Masyumi party.

After declaring Independence at the close of the World War II in 1945, Indonesia developed a temporary Constitution, expecting that by the following year a full constitutional assembly could be elected by popular vote to draft a more permanent document.

There was a contention over whether Indonesia should apply a one party state system as proposed by the new Republic’s leaders. However, other figures objected to the idea, saying that it would be fascistic and authoritarian. Indonesia decided that there should not be a restriction to one party only.

Indonesia commenced its first national election in 1955 and has since held a total of 12 elections.

The Indonesian National Party (PNI), Masyumi, NU and the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) stood out as the biggest winners in the election as they secured a total of 77 percent of the vote in the 16-party election.

When Soeharto, later known as an authoritarian leader, took the country’s leadership, Kevin described in his book that the country began to transition from competitive free and fair elections to symbolic affirmation of the right of the incumbent political system to continue.

In the 1971 election, the number of parties competing was reduced to nine only to “simplify” the system. Later the number was reduced three, namely the PPP, the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and Soeharto’s political vehicle Golkar.

After the fall of Soeharto’s authoritarian regime in 1998, which marked the birth of the Reform Era, the election in 1999 was contested by 48 parties, covering nearly the entire political spectrum in the country, except communism, which was banned in 1965.

The election, which was supposed to take place in 2002, was expedited due to a call from the public to replace public officials affiliated with the New Order Era.

The country has seen more democratic elections since then, which peaked with direct presidential and legislative elections in 2004. In 2019, both the presidential and the legislative elections were held simultaneously for the first time.

— From various sources

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