Christian party offer hope to minority voters

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