Template:Short description Template:Infobox Indonesian political party

The United Development Party (Template:Langx, PPP) is an Islam-based<ref name="King">Template:Cite book </ref><ref name="Al2">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Al">Al-Hamdi, Ridho (February 2017). Moving towards a Normalised Path: Political Islam in Contemporary Indonesia. Jurnal Studi Pemerintahan (Journal of Government & Politics). Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 53, 56-57, 62.</ref><ref name="kompaspedia">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> political party in Indonesia.

The PPP was formed in 1973 as a result of the merger between several Islam-based parties, assuming the role of umbrella party for Muslims.<ref name="Za">Zachary Abuza (2007): Political Islam and Violence in Indonesia, Routledge, p. 21</ref>

The party was led by Suryadharma Ali until 2014 when he was prosecuted for corruption. From 2014 to 2016 the party was split in the dispute over its chairmanship. In April 2016, Muhammad Romahurmuziy was declared a new chairman after a reconciliation congress. In the 2024 election, the party won 3.87 of the popular vote, a decrease from 4.52 percent it won in 2019. It was the first time PPP lost all the seats in the DPR.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

HistoryEdit

File:United Development Party HQ.jpg
Party head office on Jalan Diponegoro, Menteng, Jakarta

OriginsEdit

Ten political parties participated in the 1971 legislative election, a number that President Suharto considered to be too many. Suharto wished that political parties be reduced to just two or three and that the parties should be grouped based on their programs.

The basis for the merger that would result in the birth of the PPP was a coalition of the four Islamic Parties in the People's Representative Council (DPR) called the United Development Faction. This faction consisted of Nahdatul Ulama (NU), the Muslim Party of Indonesia (Parmusi), the Islamic Association Party of Indonesia (PSII) and the Islamic Education Movement (Perti).

With encouragement by the Government, officials from all four parties had meetings with each other and after finding some common ground, merged the four Islamic parties in Indonesia into the United Development Party on 5 January 1973. Despite this formal merging of the parties however, internal PPP politics under the Suharto government were dominated by the differing priorities of the original groups that formed the party.

Opposition to the New OrderEdit

File:Logo PPP (1973-1982).svg
The party's logo from 1973 to 1985
File:Logo PPP (1982-1998).svg
The party's logo from 1982 to 1998
File:Partai Persatuan Pembangunan Logo.svg
The party's logo from 1998 to 2021 and 2023 to present

In the mid-1970s, popular support for Suharto's regime was rapidly waning. When Suharto had seized power with a bloody military coup in 1965 and ousted President Sukarno, the Islamic groups had supported Suharto and aided in persecuting his political opponents. But as the regime had become corrupt and even more authoritarian, this alliance began to crumble. As the 1977 legislative election approached, many began to seek other options to vote for aside from the government-backed Golkar.

Worried that the PPP might win the elections, Suharto played on the fears of the people by having the military arrest a group of people who claimed to be associated with the Jihad Commando (Komando Jihad). With this some people became worried that to vote for the PPP and its Islamic leaning would mean expressing support the Jihad Commando and in a government growing increasingly authoritarian, many simply refused to be associated with the wrong side. Golkar would go on to win the legislative elections with 62% with the PPP coming second with 27% of the votes.

The PPP however, would not sit back and accept defeat. At the 1978 MPR General Session, PPP member Chalid Mawardi launched a scathing criticism of Suharto's regime. Mawardi accused the Government of being anti-Muslim, complained about the government's violent crackdown of dissent, and alleged that the 1977 legislative election was won because of electoral fraud.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> PPP members also conducted a mass walkout when Suharto referred to religions as "streams of beliefs".

The PPP seemed to have cemented itself a status as the strongest opposition party. It would not last long however. In 1984, NU, under its Chairman, Abdurrahman Wahid withdrew from the PPP, severely weakening it. The PPP vote share fell from almost 28% in the 1982 legislative election to 16% in the 1987 legislative election, the PPP was also forced by the government to replace its ideology of Islam with the national ideology of Pancasila and to stop using Islamic symbols. As a result, the party replaced its logo showing the Kabah shrine in Mecca with a star.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The symbol was identical to the first principle of Pancasila, Ketuhanan yang Maha Esa (Belief in the One Supreme God).

1988 MPR general sessionEdit

At the 1988 MPR General Session, Jailani Naro, the PPP Chairman, was nominated as vice president. Suharto, who had been elected to the presidency for a fifth term at the aforementioned General Session, intervened. He cited a decision that the MPR made in 1973 that one of the criteria for a vice president was that he should be able to work with the president. Suharto also conducted discussions with Naro and convinced him to withdraw the nomination.

What Naro did was unprecedented as both Suharto and his vice presidents had always been elected unopposed. The problem this time was Suharto's choice for vice president, Sudharmono. Suharto's choice had caused a rift between him and his most loyal ally, ABRI. Many within ABRI did not like Sudharmono because he spent more time behind a desk (Sudharmono was a military attorney) than as a field officer. Seeing a gap to exploit, Naro nominated himself, possibly with the private support of ABRI who, in public, had shown support for Sudharmono.

The PPP in the Reform eraEdit

File:United Development Party rally 1997.jpg
United Development Party rally in Jakarta, 24 April 1997
File:United Development Party (Indonesia) 2021 logo.png
Party logo used briefly from 2021 to 2023

The PPP continued as the second biggest party out of the three allowed in the New Order. In May 1998, after Suharto's fall, the PPP returned to its Islamic ideology and prepared itself for the 1999 legislative election, where it won 11% of the vote.

In the 1999 MPR General Session, the PPP was part of the Central Axis, a political coalition of Muslim parties which was formed by MPR Chairman, Amien Rais to counter the dominance of Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P). The PDI-P had won the legislative election and Megawati was expected to win the presidency. However, the MPR was still at this stage responsible for electing the president and vice president, and the Muslim parties in the Central Axis did not want a female president. Instead, they nominated and successfully secured the election of Abdurrahman Wahid as president. In the vice-presidential election, PPP Chairman Hamzah Haz ran against Megawati and was defeated.

The PPP was the first of Wahid's political allies to become disillusioned with him. The PPP's main problem with Wahid was his visit to Israel and the suggestion that he was willing to establish diplomatic relations with that nation. Hamzah who served in Wahid's cabinet as Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, immediately resigned from his position just a month after Wahid had appointed him to it. Many other Wahid allies would follow and in July 2001, the PPP would join in removing Wahid from the presidency and naming Megawati as the president. Hamzah was then elected as vice president after defeating Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Akbar Tanjung in the vice-presidential election.

2004 legislative electionEdit

The PPP won 8.1% of the vote in the 2004 legislative election, a decrease from its 10.7% share of the vote in 1999, but enough to retain its place as the third-best represented party in the legislature, behind the PDI-P and Golkar.

2004 presidential electionEdit

The PPP originally did not have a presidential candidate in mind for the 2004 presidential election. They had expected that Hamzah would be picked as Megawati's running mate and continue the Megawati/Hamzah President/Vice President partnership. Megawati however, chose NU Chairman Hasyim Muzadi as her running mate.

The PPP then continued to wait, still expecting that Hamzah Haz would be picked as a vice-presidential candidate. Finally, a day before the registration of presidential/vice-presidential candidates was closed, Hamzah moved forward and became the PPP's presidential candidate.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His running mate was Agum Gumelar, who served as Minister of Transportation in Megawati's Cabinet. Hamzah's presidential run was unsuccessful as he received only 3.1% of the vote and came fifth.

In August 2004, the PPP announced that it was forming a national coalition with the PDI-P, Golkar, the Reform Star Party (PBR) and the Prosperous Peace Party to back Megawati to win the presidential run-off against Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Yudhoyono however would emerge victorious and the PPP would defect from the national coalition to Yudhoyono's camp. They were rewarded by being given cabinet places.

2007 party congressEdit

The PPP held its 6th National Congress in Jakarta from 30 January to 3 February 2007. On the last day of the Congress, Suryadharma Ali emerged as the new PPP Chairman to replace Hamzah. Suryadharma served as Minister of Cooperatives and State and Medium Enterprises in President Yudhoyono's Cabinet. He announced that he would continue as minister while concurrently holding the position of PPP Chairman.Template:Citation needed

2009 legislative electionEdit

The party came sixth in the 2009 legislative election with 5.3 percent of the vote, winning 38 seats in the People's Representative Council.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Throughout the election, the party obtained votes from the elderly Muslim men throughout rural and urban area, inside and outside of Java.<ref>Hwang, Julie Chernov. (2014). “Patterns of normalization: Islamist parties in Indonesia”, in Quinn Mecham and Julie Chernov Hwang (Eds.), Islamist parties and political normalization in the Muslim world. Philadelphia:University of Pennsylvania Press. p.68. Template:ISBN</ref>

The party in the 2010sEdit

In the 2014 Indonesian legislative election, the PPP improved on its performance in the previous election winning 6.53% of the vote, and 39 seats in the legislature.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Five years later, in the 2019 Indonesian legislative election, the PPP share of the vote fell to 4.52%, and the number of seats it held in the legislature halved to 19.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Political identitiesEdit

IdeologyEdit

After the fall of Suharto, PPP once again became an Islamist party in the early Post-Suharto era.<ref name="Za"/> Today it is considered a centre-right<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> to right-wing<ref name="Is it left or right-wing?">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> nationalist Islamist party which conforms with Pancasila doctrine and no longer upholds sharia as a main goal.<ref name="Al"/><ref name="Al2"/>Template:Verification needed

Party platformEdit

The party's vision is to bring about a nation that is just, prosperous, moral and democratic and that upholds the law, respects human rights and that holds in high esteem the dignity of mankind and social justice based on the values of Islam. The party believes that religion (Islam) has an important role to play as a moral guidance and inspiration in the life of the nation. It is committed to improving the quality of democracy in Indonesia and respects freedom of expression, opinion and organization, the realization of good governance and the endeavor to preserve the unitary Republic of Indonesia based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution. It supports the concept of a people-based economic system, economic justice, the creation of jobs, the eradication of poverty, state control of sectors of the economy that have a controlling influence on the lives of the majority, a major role for state-owned companies, and economic independence.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ChairmanEdit

Election resultsEdit

Legislative election resultsEdit

Election Ballot number Total seats won Total votes Share of votes Seat change Outcome of election Party leader
1971 N/A Template:Composition bar 14,833,942<ref group=note>Total vote for the NU, Perti, PSII and Parmusi, which were fused into the PPP in 1973</ref> 27.11%<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Template:Increase94 seats Template:No2 Mohammad Syafaat Mintaredja
1977 1 Template:Composition bar 18,743,491 citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Increase5 seats Template:No2 Mohammad Syafaat Mintaredja
1982 1 Template:Composition bar 20,871,880 27.78%<ref name="Pileg04"/> Template:Decrease5 seats Template:No2 Jailani Naro
1987 1 Template:Composition bar 13,701,428 15.97%<ref name="Pileg04"/> Template:Decrease33 seats Template:No2 Jailani Naro
1992 1 Template:Composition bar 16,624,647 17.01%<ref name="Pileg04"/> Template:Increase1 seat Template:No2 Ismail Hasan Metareum
1997 1 Template:Composition bar 25,340,028 22.43%<ref name="Pileg04"/> Template:Increase27 seats Template:No2 Ismail Hasan Metareum
1999 9 Template:Composition bar 11,329,905 10.71%<ref name="Pileg04"/> Template:Decrease31 seats Template:Yes2 Hamzah Haz
2004 5 Template:Composition bar 9,248,764 8.15%<ref name="Pileg04"/> Template:Steady Template:Yes2 Hamzah Haz
2009 24 Template:Composition bar 5,544,332 5.32%<ref name="Pileg04"/> Template:Decrease20 seats Template:Yes2 Suryadharma Ali
2014 9 Template:Composition bar 8,157,488 citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Increase1 seat Template:Yes2 Suryadharma Ali
2019 10 Template:Composition bar 6,323,147 4.52%<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Template:Decrease20 seats Template:Yes2 Suharso Monoarfa
2024 17 Template:Composition bar 5,878,708 3.87% Template:Decrease19 seats Template:Yes2<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Muhamad Mardiono

Template:Reflist

Presidential election resultsEdit

Election Ballot number Pres. candidate Running mate 1st round
Template:Small
Share of votes Outcome 2nd round
Template:Small
Share of votes Outcome
2004 5 Hamzah Haz Agum Gumelar 3,569,861 3.01% Template:No2 colspan="3" Template:No2<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

2009 2 Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Boediono 73,874,562 60.80% Template:Yes2
2014 1 Prabowo Subianto<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Hatta Rajasa 62,576,444 46.85% Template:No2
2019 1 Joko Widodo Ma'ruf Amin 85,607,362 55.50% Template:Yes2
2024 3 Ganjar Pranowo Mahfud MD 27,040,878 16.47% Template:No2

Note: Bold text indicates the party member

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Template:Portal Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Template:United Development Party Template:Indonesian political parties Template:Islam in Indonesia