The term “opposition party” was on legislators’ lips a month after the General Elections Commission (KPU) announced in May the results of the April 17 presidential election, which installed Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Ma’ruf Amin as the leaders of the country. The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) brought up the issue after the Koalisi Adil-Makmur (Fair and Prosperous Coalition), which it had formed with the Gerindra Party, the Democratic Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Berkarya (Working) Party, lost to the rival coalition that had won the presidential election.

The PKS later became the loudest — and apparently also the only — proponent of the establishment of an opposition party after its core coalition partner, the Gerindra Party, welcomed the invitation by President Jokowi for its leaders, chairman Prabowo Subianto and deputy chairman Edhy Prabowo, to be part of the Cabinet. Democrats and PAN have shown no clear intention of declaring themselves a true opposition political force and Partai Berkarya has failed to win membership in the House of Representatives.

The terms opposition force and opposition party have never been part of the official vocabulary of Indonesian politics because the country does not recognize a two-party political system, in which the winning political party rules and the losing party automatically serves as its watchdog and counterbalance.

Indonesia recognizes, rather, the multiparty system. The losing party or parties do not automatically become the opposition force. In practice, however, these losing parties may act as an informal opposition.

The country’s political history reveals the periodic rise and fall of oppositional political forces.

In the early years of post-Independence Indonesia (1945-1959), the role of the opposition was evident in the era’s polarized political climate. The Islamic-based Masyumi Party, under the chairmanship of Mohammad Natsir, declared itself the opposition to the socialist-led government coalition.

At the center of political contention was the ruling government’s agreement with the Dutch, which Masyumi considered detrimental to Indonesia.

The influence of the opposition declined — if not disappeared entirely — during the Demokrasi Terpimpin (Guided Democracy) era imposed by founding president Sukarno (1959-1966). Opposition political parties, such as the Masyumi Party and Murba Party, were disbanded by Sukarno.

The repression of opposition forces continued under president Soeharto’s government, which came into power in 1967. Critical elements of society had pinned high hopes on Soeharto, but they encountered similar repression from the government.

Soeharto, through the Golongan Karya (Golkar or Functional Groups), a political party he had helped established, managed to win reelection six times. Potential opposition forces were muted. The most controversial case was the state’s intervention in the internal affairs of the then-Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) in an effort to influence the election of the party’s leadership. The affair ended with the forceful government takeover of the party headquarters on July 27, 1996.

The Soeharto government eventually collapsed, after more than three decades in power, due to its failure to settle the economic crisis and as a consequence of the 1998 unrest. The fall of Soeharto was deeply influenced by the extra-legislative opposition force of university students and prodemocracy activists.

The short presidency of the succeeding president, BJ Habibie (1998-1999), did not provide enough room for an opposition force to exist as it was such a transitional government from Soeharto’s long presidency.

Nor did Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid (1999-2001) provide an opportunity for an opposition force to blossom, as nearly all societal political elements were represented under his government. Both the government and the legislature were dominated by party loyalists and members of his government’s supporting coalition. There was essentially no opposition voice at all. It was only when Gus Dur replaced a number of Cabinet ministers with people of his choosing that critical voices started to emerge. They eventually brought about his impeachment.

There was quite a lot of criticism launched against the succeeding president Megawati Soekarnoputri, but in general, the opposition force was weak during her presidency.

The opposition resurfaced in the wake of the direct presidential election of 2004. It was during the leadership of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who served two consecutive terms (2004-2009 and 2009-2014), that the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), under the leadership of Megawati, declared itself a “nonparticipant” in Yudhoyono’s coalition government. Among the key points of opposition were the Yuhoyono administration’s decision to increase the price of fuel and its direct cash assistance program for the poor.

The role of the opposition force heightened during President Jokowi’s first term (2014-2019). The coalition of opposition political parties, called the Red-and-White Coalition, were the strongest critics of Jokowi’s leadership and policies.

However, the beginning of Jokowi’s second term (2019-2024) has seen a shift in the character of the opposition force, with the PKS openly declaring itself an opposition political party. It remains unclear whether the other members of the Koalisi Adil-Makmur will perform their roles of scrutinizing the ruling administration or whether they will simply fall in line.

— From various sources

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