The League of Supporters of Indonesian Independence (, IPKI) was a

right-wing nationalist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populism, populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-Elitism, ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

established by former Army head General

Abdul Haris Nasution Abdul 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 and remained in the military during the subsequent turmoil of ...

as a vehicle for the

Indonesian Army The Indonesian Army ( (TNI-AD), ) is the army, land branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It has an estimated strength of 300,400 active personnel. The history of the Indonesian Army has its roots in 1945 when the (TKR) "People's Se ...

to enter the realm of politics. It was influential in persuading President

Sukarno Sukarno (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 the Indonesian struggle for independenc ...

to introduce

Guided Democracy in Indonesia Guided Democracy (), also called the Old Order (), was the political system in place in Indonesia from 1959 until the New Order began in 1966. This period followed the dissolution of the liberal democracy period in Indonesia by President Suk ...

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

established IPKI as an "army front organization"Feith (2007) p405 along with other military figures such as

Gatot Soebroto General 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 ...

and Azis Saleh, and with the support of the

Yogyakarta sultanate The Sultanate of Yogyakarta, officially the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat ( ; ), is a Javanese monarchy in Yogyakarta Special Region, in the Republic of Indonesia. The current head of the sultanate is Hamengkubuwono X. Yogyakart ...

. 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 Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, and Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the island of New Guinea, formerly Dutch colonial empire, Dutch and granted to Indonesia in 1962. Given the island is alternatively n ...

", still administered by the Dutch at the time.Sundhaussen (1982) p89 IPKI election symbol on 1955 ballot paper

The party targeted military personnel and their families, and veterans, particularly in

West Java West Java (, ) is an Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to t ...

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 Constitution of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (, commonly abbreviated as ''UUD 1945'' or ''UUD '45'') is the supreme law and basis for all laws of Indonesia. The constitution was written in June–August 1945, in the ...

in force at the time was "too western". However, the cabinet 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 A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

.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 House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia (, DPR-RI or simply DPR) is one of two elected chambers of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the national legislature of Indonesia. It is considered the lower house, while th ...

. The vast majority of its vote, 81.7%, came from West Java because of support from the

Siliwangi Division Military Regional Command III/Siliwangi () is an Indonesian Army Regional Military Command that covers Banten and West Java province. The division was formed during the Indonesian National Revolution by what was then known as the People's Secu ...

.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 The Second Ali Sastroamidjojo Cabinet (), also known as the Ali-Roem-Idham Cabinet () was an Indonesian cabinet that served from 24 March 1956 until 9 April 1957. Composition Cabinet Leadership *Prime Minister: Ali Sastroamidjojo (Indonesian Nati ...

, 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 Mohammad Hatta ( ; 12 August 1902 – 14 March 1980) was an Indonesian statesman, nationalist, and independence activist who served as the country's first Vice President of Indonesia, vice president as well as the third prime minister. Known as ...

.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

, formed to draft a permanent constitution, became bogged down over the issue of the role of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

.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 The Indonesian National Party (, PNI) was the name used by several nationalist political parties in Indonesia from 1927 until 1973. The first PNI was established by future President Sukarno. After independence, the new PNI supplied a number of pri ...

(PNI) and the

Communist Party of Indonesia The Communist Party of Indonesia (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Partai Komunis Indonesia'', PKI) was a communist party in the Dutch East Indies and later Indonesia. It was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world before its Indo ...

(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 A decree is a law, legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, monarch, royal figure, or other relevant Authority, authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislativ ...

, 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 (, 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 (, also known as G30S, and by the syllabic abbreviation Gestapu for ''Gerakan September Tiga Puluh'', Thirtieth of September Movement, also unofficially called Gestok, for ''Gerakan Satu Oktober'', or Fir ...

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 Officer (armed forces), military officer and politician, and dictator, who was the second and longest serving president of Indonesia, serving from 1967 to 1998. His 32 years rule, cha ...

regime vehicle

Golkar The Party of Functional Groups (), often known by its abbreviation Golkar, is a Centre politics, centre to Centre-right politics, centre-right big tent secular nationalist political parties in Indonesia, political party in Indonesia. Founded in ...

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 The Indonesian Democratic Party (, PDI) was a political party in Indonesia which existed from 1973 to 2003. During the New Order era, the PDI was one of the two state-approved parties, the other being the Islam-based United Development Part ...

. 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 (, MPR-RI) is the legislative branch in Indonesia's political system. It is composed of the members of a lower body, House of Representatives (DPR) and an upper body, Regional R ...

. The party won 0.22 percent of the vote, giving it one seat in the

. 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. (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