Indonesia
The Milestone of General Election in Indonesia
Superkids, today our parents as citizen of Indonesia are required to vote to choose the representatives to sit in the government. Their job is to work so hard to create prosper and welfare nation of Indonesia in every aspect of life, and to enhance the image of Indonesia in front of the world.
Now, perhaps you have been familiar with faces of those who run for this burden. Their ads are simply everywhere, aren’t there, Superkids? From the street we walk through to the TV at home. Actually, how’s exactly the story of general election in Indonesia? Let’s read this article, shall we?
September 29th and December 15th 1955
In 1955 Indonesia has its first general election (Pemilu). There were 80 participants from parties, organization or independent. The election ran in two periods, September for members of People Representative Council (DPR) and December to choose member of Constituent Assembly (Konstituante), a chamber formed to arrange constitution. From the 1955 Election, a parliament with 27 political parties and one from independent was born. The most popular parties managed to claim 77 out of the total seats of the parliament were Partai Islam Masyumi, Partai Nasional Indonesia (PNI), Nahdlatul Ulama and Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI). The next Election was supposed to be in 1960. However due to the instability of the nation, the general election was never been conducted.
July 3rd 1971
The first election in “New Order” era (Orde Baru) was held on July 5th 1971. There were 10 political parties took place, the top five political parties were Golkar, Nahdlatul Ulama, Partai Muslim Indonesia (Parmusi), Partai Nasional Indonesia and Partai Persatuan Islam Indonesia (PSII). In 1973 President Soeharto arranged so that only three parties were allowed in Election. Islamic parties joined into Partai Persatuan Pembangunan (PPP) and other parties became Partai Demokrasi Indonesia (PDI). Meanwhile Soeharto owned his own undefeated party, which is Golongan Karya (Golkar).
May 2nd, 1977
Indonesian third Election and the second under the New Order. Up until 1997 there were always only 3 parties and Golkar always on the lead.
May 4th, 1982
President Soeharto held the third Election and again Golkar dominated it with over 64 votes.
April 23rd, 1987
This was the fourth Election and Soeharto has been in charge for 21 years. The 1982 Election was the peak of winning for Golkar with 73 per cent votes. It showed that the New Order rules had been rooted deep within Indonesian government. It’s included Election that run in almost perfectly in order and under complete control by the government.
Juni 9th, 1992
In 1992, Soeharto was 71 years old. In this Election Golkar gained less votes with 68 per cent while PPP’s and PDI’s increased. PPP gained 17 per cent and PDI with 15 per cent. Many signs of resistance that emerged throughout the country were viewed as the reason of this drawback.
May 29th 1997
Election was held three times. They were to fill the members of DPR and DPRD. Much like the previous Elections, the 1997 was owned by Golkar. However, this was the last Election for President Soeharto’s New Order regime. Many resistances rose from students, intellectuals and activists from many NGOs on behalf of human right and also demand for better more democratic government were exploding. The resistance that has been lying idles since 1980 in every aspects, social, religion, and started to grow serious and eventually, inevitable riots all over Indonesia exploded. The situation led to the chaos on 1998, causing the end of the New Order.
June 7th, 1999
President Soeharto stepped down on May 21st 1998 and succeeded by the Vice, President B.J. Habibie. 13 months later the 1999 Election was held, ahead of the five years cycle. The previous one was only two years running, but people demanded a new working government. The Election of this era opened the window for new political parties and as the result there were 48 parties racing, 21 of them managed to have seat on DPR. Election was held to select members of DPR, MPR and DPRD. PDI won the majority with 35 per cent votes.
However, it’s the People Consultative Assembly (MPR) who decided to the President and the Vice President of Republic Indonesia. MPR chose Abdurrahman Wahid, known well as Gus Dur from Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (PKB) and Megawati Soekarnoputri from PDI as the Vice. The political atmosphere was still far from steady and the turbulence removed Wahid on July 23rd 2001. Megawati succeeded him.
July 5th and September 20th 2004
The 2004 Election was another milestone of Indonesian democracy. For the first time in history, Indonesia had to choose the President and the Vice President first hand, instead of represented by MPR. The 2004 Election was conducted in three steps. The first step was to select members of DPR. The second round was for the President and Vice President, and the third was second round for President and Vice President, if none of the candidate gained 50 per cent votes. There are 24 parties racing in this Election but only 7 had the right to put the members in the DPR. They were Partai Golkar, Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan (PDIP), PPP, PKB, Partai Demokrat, Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) and Partai Amanat Nasional (PAN).
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla from Partai Demokrat were voted for the President and Vice President with 60.62 per cent votes, outmatch Megawati Soekarnoputri and Hasyim Muzadi of PDIP with only 39.38 per cent votes.
April 9th, 2009
The 2009 Election was the third one in the Reforming era, Legislative election was conducted on April 9th, attended by 44 political parties, with only parties could claimed the seat in DPR, with Partai Demokrat on the lead, followed by Partai Golkar and Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan (PDIP) on the third. Race for president was held on July in the same year. The incumbent Presient Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has selected Budiono for his Vice gained 60.80 per cent votes, above the 50 per cent threshold.
So what about the 2014 Election that we are going to have today, to choose members of legislative council and followed by President and Vice President on the upcoming July 9th, let’s pray that Indonesia will have the best leader, Superkids. Godspeed.
MAHARANI INDRI
