The League of Supporters of Indonesian Independence ( id, Ikatan Pendukung Kemerdekaan Indonesia, IPKI) was a political party in Indonesia established by former Army head General
Abdul Haris Nasution
General of the Army Abdul Haris Nasution ( Old Spelling: Abdoel Haris Nasution; 3 December 1918 – 6 September 2000), was a high-ranking Indonesian general and politician. He served in the military during the Indonesian National Revolution an ...
as a vehicle for the
Indonesian Army
The Indonesian Army ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Darat (TNI-AD), ) is the land branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It has an estimated strength of 300,000 active personnel. The history of the Indonesian Army has its ...
to enter the realm of politics. It was influential in persuading President
Sukarno
Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967.
Sukarno was the leader of ...
to introduce
Guided Democracy in Indonesia and return to the
1945 Constitution.
Establishment
Two years after his dismissal as Army Chief of Staff following the show of force known as the 17 October 1952 incident, General
Abdul Haris Nasution
General of the Army Abdul Haris Nasution ( Old Spelling: Abdoel Haris Nasution; 3 December 1918 – 6 September 2000), was a high-ranking Indonesian general and politician. He served in the military during the Indonesian National Revolution an ...
established IPKI as an "army front organization"
[Feith (2007) p405] along with other military figures such as
Gatot Soebroto
Gatot Soebroto ( Enhanced Spelling: Gatot Subroto, 10 October 1907 – 11 June 1962) was an Indonesian general who began his military career with the Royal Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL) and rose to be deputy Army chief-of-staff.
Early life
So ...
and Azis Saleh, and with the support of the Yogyakarta sultanate. The party proposed a return to the spirit of the
Proclamation of Independence and the
1945 Constitution as the way out of the political and economic problems that Indonesia had faced since independence. It also called for an end to corruption and for the "liberation of
West Irian", still administered by the Dutch at the time.
[Sundhaussen (1982) p89]
The party targeted military personnel and their families, and veterans, particularly in
West Java and the outer (non-Javanese) islands. Although Nasution blamed the political parties for the state of the nation, he said that he did not want a military takeover. He also claimed that the
Indonesian Constitution
The 1945 State Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945, commonly abbreviated as ''UUD 1945'' or ''UUD '45'') is the supreme law and basis for all laws of Indonesia.
The constitu ...
in force at the time was "too western". However, the
cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
saw IPKI as a threat, and tried to shackle it by demanding that Army officers resign if they intended to stand in the 1955
elections for the members of the People's Representative Council or
Constitutional Assembly.
[Sundhaussen (1982) p90]
in the legislative election elections, the party put forward 167 candidates in 11 of the 16 electoral districts, but won only 1.4% of the vote, giving it four of the 167 seats in the
People's Representative Council
The People's Representative Council of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, DPR-RI), also known as the House of Representatives, is one of two elected chambers of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), ...
. The vast majority of its vote, 81.7%, came from West Java because of support from the
Siliwangi Division.
[Sundhaussen (1982) p91]
Guided Democracy to the New Order
IPKI representative Dahlan Ibrahim served as minister for veteran affairs in the
Second Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet, but in December 1956 the party withdrew him in protest at the inability of the government to deal with a series of regional rebellions led by disaffected army personnel, which would eventually lead to the
PRRI Rebellion. The party also called for the cabinet to resign and be replaced by one led by former vice-president
Mohammad Hatta.
[Feith (2007) pp470 & 533] These rebellions caused the cabinet to collapse, and be replaced by the
Working Cabinet, in which Azis Saleh served as minister of health.
[Lev (2009) pp 26-34]
Meanwhile, the
Constitutional Assembly, formed to draft a permanent constitution, became bogged down over the issue of the role of
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
.
[Ricklefs (1991) pp. 252-254] By 1959, IPKI was publicly calling for a return to the original 1945 Constitution, and at a conference that year, asked President Sukarno to reimpose it by decree if the Assembly was unable to do so. In June, IPKI formed the "Front for the Defence of Pancasila" from 17 small parties and began a boycott of the Assembly. It subsequently managed to persuade the
Indonesian National Party (PNI) and the
Communist Party of Indonesia
The Communist Party of Indonesia (Indonesian: ''Partai Komunis Indonesia'', PKI) was a communist party in Indonesia during the mid-20th century. It was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world before its violent disbandment in 1965. ...
(PKI) to join the boycott, which meant the Assembly could no longer function. On 5 July 1959, President Sukarno reimposed the 1945 Constitution by
decree, and also dissolved the Constitutional Assembly.
[Sundhaussen (1982) p136]
On 5 March 1960, Sukarno suspended the legislature and announced he would appoint a body to replace it, which would be known as the People's Representative Council of Mutual Assistance ( id, Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Gotong Royong, DPR–GR). This body would not include the smaller parties, and in any case, IPKI would no longer be necessary since the Army would be given seats of their own. However, Nasution managed to persuade Sukarno not to ban IPKI, and it was subsequently given seats.
As the Guided Democracy period continued, IPKI began to oppose Sukarno, and by the end of 1966 it joined the chorus of parties calling for a new political order.
[Sundhaussen (1982) pp146-148] Five years after the
30 September Movement
The Thirtieth of September Movement ( id, Gerakan 30 September, abbreviated as G30S, also known by the acronym Gestapu for ''Gerakan September Tiga Puluh'', Thirtieth of September Movement) was a self-proclaimed organization of Indonesian Na ...
coup attempt that led to Sukarno's downfall and the start of the
New Order regime, IPKI was one of nine parties that together with the
Suharto
Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...
regime vehicle
Golkar contested the
1971 legislative elections. It won less than one percent of the vote, and no legislative seats. In 1973 IPKI was fused into the
Indonesian Democratic Party. In its 1994 congress, it decided to become a non-political mass organisation.
[Bestian Nainggolan and Yohan Wahyu (2016) p410]
Revival and dissolution
On 12 September 1998, following the
fall of the New Order, IPKI declared itself as a political party known as the League of Supporters of Indonesian Independence Party. Its aims included implementing and applying the state philosophy of
Pancasila in daily life in order to realise national aims. The party program called for putting sovereignty back in the hands of the people, limiting the presidency to two terms and striving for regional autonomy. It supported the continuation of a social-political role for the Indonesian armed forces and for the president to be elected by the
People's Consultative Assembly
The People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, MPR-RI) is the legislative branch in Politics of Indonesia, Indonesia's political system. It is composed of the membe ...
. The party won 0.22 percent of the vote, giving it one seat in the
People's Representative Council
The People's Representative Council of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, DPR-RI), also known as the House of Representatives, is one of two elected chambers of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), ...
.
As it did not win enough votes in this election to take part in the
2004 vote, along with seven other parties, it merged into the
Indonesian Unity Party.
[Bestian Nainggolan and Yohan Wahyu (2016) p377]
References
Citations
Sources
*Anderson, Benedict R. O'G. (Ed) (2001), ''Violence and the State in Suharto's Indonesia'', SEAP Publications,
*
Feith, Herbert (2007) ''The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia '' Equinox Publishing (Asia) Pte Ltd,
*Lev, Daniel S (2009) ''The Transition to Guided Democracy: Indonesian Politics 1957-1959 Equinox Publishing (Asia) Pte Ltd,
*Bestian Nainggolan and Yohan Wahyu (Eds) (2016) ''Partai Politik Indonesia 1999-2019'' (''Indonesian Political Parties 1999-2019''), Kompas Media Nusantara
*
Ricklefs, M.C.
Merle Calvin Ricklefs (17 July 1943 – 29 December 2019) was an American-born Australian scholar of the history and current affairs of Indonesia.Anthony Reid, 'Merle Calvin Ricklefs, AM July 17, 1943 - December 29, 2019', Emeritus' (The Australi ...
(1991). ''A history of modern Indonesia since c.1200''. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
*Sundhaussen, Ulf (1982) ''The Road to Power: Indonesian Military Politics 1945–1967'', Oxford University Press.
Notes
{{Former Indonesian political parties
1954 establishments in Indonesia
2002 disestablishments in Indonesia
Defunct political parties in Indonesia
Political parties disestablished in 2002
Political parties established in 1954