Christian party offer hope to minority voters

Rais Hidayat, Research and Development Unit, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) is special because it is the only party representing the Protestant and Catholic minorities, which passed the selection by the General Election Commission (KPU).

It is also is special given its limited links to mainstream Christianity in the country -- or at least the religious leaders strongly linked to the Indonesian Churches Union (PGI) and the Bishops' Conference of Indonesia (KWI) and their formal youth, student, women's and intellectual organizations.

PDS members are mainly professionals from small prayer groups who united gradually over time through networking. The party's background was initially obscure except for leader Ruyandi Hutasoit whose father was once an executive of Parkindo. He himself was president of the Doulos Foundation focusing on social services.

The PDS is one of seven Christian-based political parties which went through the registration process at the justice and human rights ministry for the 2004 election. It is useful to examine its context in the experimentation of these minorities in gaining a political foothold.

Indonesian history has seen many different ways in which Protestant and Catholic minorities have voiced their aspirations.

In the 1955 election, in which ethnic groups and religions were fervently translated into political parties, Protestants solidified their political interests through the Indonesian Protestant Party (Parkindo) and the Catholic community had the Catholic Party (Parkat).

Those parties gained solid support as reflected in the results of the 1955 polls. In East Nusa Tenggara, a province with a majority of Christians and Catholics, Parkat took 41 percent of the votes, followed by Parkindo in second place with 18 percent.

In Maluku and then North-Central Sulawesi (now divided into two provinces), Parkindo's performance was equal to the demographic share -- a very solid majority -- of Protestants there. The same was true in North Sumatra province. Parkindo was second in 1955 with 33 percent in Maluku and third in North- Central Sulawesi and North Sumatra with 11 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

Nationwide, Parkindo ranked sixth with 8 seats in the national legislature and 2.6 percent of the votes while Parkat the seventh with 6 seats and 2 percent of votes.

Their representation was sustained in the 1971 election, the second since 1945. Parkindo remained sixth and Parkat at seventh in overall votes. Regional electoral results also confirmed the sustained loyalty of Protestants and Catholics to their parties.

However, the 1977 election saw a radical change in their political affiliations as the whole political system was forcefully rearranged by the New Order regime.

As Parkindo and Parkat were grouped into the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) together with the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI) and a nationalist party with a strong socialist bent called Murba, Christians' historical loyalties were cut off. They started to identify themselves with their new parties or dropped out of politics altogether.

But this fusion was just a minor development, the major one being the establishment of a single major party to become the regime's political machine, the Functional Group (Golkar). The very strong -- sometimes intimidating -- ruling regime required Christians, as well as everyone else, to increasingly identify themselves with Golkar.

Such tactics indeed worked, as reflected in the 1977 results. In East Nusa Tenggara, a shoo-in for Parkat and Parkindo in 1955, Golkar suddenly won overwhelmingly with 62 percent of votes, while PDI was second with 35 percent. Though many commentators surmise that the numbers may have been manipulated, this figure reflects the start of the Golkar identification with Indonesian Christians.

Other regions that were loyal to Parkindo and Parkat also saw growing Golkar numbers.

Instead of expressing their frustration with this forceful arrangement, Christian communities responded positively, at least according to election results at the time. The arrangement was justified by some Golkar Christians as a new way of existing in the political arena -- close interaction with people of various backgrounds in either Golkar or PDI was increasingly perceived as a valuable association. It placed them on par with the majority and, to some extent, gave them greater opportunities in national politics.

While these benefits were regarded as blessings in disguise, despite New Order machinations, some Muslim groups resented it -- the regime seemed to prefer to nurture the above, less troublesome minorities while suppressing the Muslim majority's political aspirations. The regime's ban on public discourse on differences such as those regarding religion worsened distrust and suspicion between these majority and minority groups.

Distrust on the part of Christians was particularly evident in the latter half of the 1990s when former president Soeharto, seeking more political security, became more accommodating to Islamic aspirations.

Christians spoke up more on how their freedom was limited, especially the tighter requirements for building churches. The burning of churches in the last years of Soeharto's regime was another shock, adding to fears of revived calls of the sharia.

These shocks have been managed in various ways. Mainstream Christians have sought more intense communication with Muslim representatives to ensure mutual trust.

Prominent Christian politicians seemed to retain their belief that secular parties and the increasingly inclusive Muslim-based parties are those that can support the interests of minorities.

And while the threat of an installment of Islamic doctrines in the rules and regulations at the national and regional levels was getting stronger, a new generation of Christians began establishing new parties.

This was evident in the 1999 election with the presence of the Democratic Catholic Party (PKD) and Love for the Nation Democratic Party (PDKB). These two parties, however, did not perform well or pass the electoral threshold of 2 percent.

This experimentation seems to have continued ahead of the 2004 elections. There were seven registered with the Ministry of Justice: Two versions of the previous PDKB namely Carrier of the Peace and Love for the Nation Party (PDKB) and Love for the Nation Indonesian Democratic Party (PDKBI), Indonesian Democratic Catholic Party (PKDI) as a new version of PKD, the new Catholic Party (Parkat), the Democratic Nationalist Christian Party (PKND), the new Indonesian Christian Party (Parkindo) and the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS).

For Christian voters disillusioned with previous political channels, the ideals offered by PDS can be attractive. For a late start in the political arena, however, the gains may still be relatively insignificant.

Excerpts of PDS' vision:

o To uphold the five basic principals of state practice mentioned in the opening of the 1945 Constitution:

a. Equal opportunity for all groups to take an active role in public life based on meritocracy;

b. Freedom of religion and protection for that freedom;

o To ensure separation of state and religion.

o To ensure all citizens are free from fear.

o To ensure all citizens can earn a decent living.

o To make education free until graduation from senior high school.

o To eliminate corruption.

o To ensure law enforcement.

o To build up industrial capacity along with agricultural capacity.

Source: www.partaidamaisejahtera.com