PKS is a metamorphosis from the Justice Party (Indonesian: Partai Keadilan, PK) established in 1998.[3][6] The party was originally influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood movement of Egypt, and considered an Islamist party for its calls for Islam to play a central role in public life,[14] as well as providing political support to Indonesian and international Islamist movements such as the Islamic Defenders Front[15]212 Movement. Today, it is considered a nationalist Islamist party that conforms with Pancasila doctrine and no longer upholds sharia as a main goal.[6][13][16][17][verification needed]
In 2019, the party obtained the popular vote by 8.21 percent, which is greater than 6.79 percent in 2014 and 7.88 percent in 2009. The party is currently led by Ahmad Syaikhu.[1]
History
1999 election Justice Party logo in ballotPKS logo (2002–2020)
The origin of the party is a religious movement known as Jemaah Tarbiyah, which was influential in university campuses during the 1980s and 1990s. Activists of Jemaah Tarbiyah established the Justice Party, the predecessor of the party on 20 July 1998, with Nurmahmudi Ismail as its first president.[3][5][9] The Justice Party was reconstituted as the Prosperous Justice Party in April 2002 after the Justice Party failed to meet the required two percent of electoral threshold in the 1999 election that it needed to contest the 2004 election. During the 2004 legislative elections, the PKS won 7.3% of the popular vote and 45 out of 550 seats, making it the seventh-largest party in parliament. This was a gain from the 1.4% received in 1999. In addition, its leader Hidayat Nur Wahid was elected speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly. PKS's strongest support is in major urban centers, particularly Jakarta, where it won the largest share of seats in 2004. In the 2009 elections, the party's came fourth, its share of the vote rose to 7.88% and it gained 12 extra legislative seats.[18]
The PKS is known for its public opposition to political corruption; this stance was widely reported as a major factor in the party's increased success in 2004.[citation needed] However, this image has been under attack in recent times, as several alleged cases of grafts are suspected to be connected to several prominent party politicians.[19][20][21] The party is closely associated with Islamic teachings, but according to its leadership does not promote the mandatory implementation of sharia, requiring Indonesia's Muslims to follow Islamic law.[22] Many of its campaigns are based on conservative religious teachings, such as opposition to the selling of pornography,[23] and for strict punishments for violations of narcotics laws.[24]
The party has been associated with the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood; several of its founders attended Brotherhood-related schools.[14] The organization stages rallies supporting Hamas in its conflict with Israel, and against the influence of the United States both in the Middle East and in Indonesia.[25]
After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, PKS sent volunteer relief workers to Aceh,[26] and has been involved in several other relief and reconstruction projects.
Over the years, the party has experienced prolonged internal rivalry, particularly between camps that can be identified as pragmatist on the one hand, and idealist on the other. The pragmatist camp has generally been made up of younger, secular-educated functionaries while older functionaries who often are graduates from institutes in the Middle East make up the idealist camp.[27]
The 5 October 2011 edition of Indonesian TV news program Liputan 6 Petang reported PKS Deputy Secretary-General and member of Indonesia's House of Representatives Fahri Hamzah had recently floated the idea of disbanding Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi or KPK).[28][29] According to Kompas, Deputy Chairman of Commission III in House of Representatives was responsible for legal affairs, human rights and security Fahri Hamzah first made the suggestion to disband the Corruption Eradication Commission in a consultation meeting at the House on Monday 3 October 2011.[30]
The party saw rapid successions of party presidents in the 2010s. In 2013, Lutfi Hasan Ishaaq was arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission due to graft; Anis Matta was chosen to replace him as party president and finally, Taufik Ridho succeeded Matta as secretary general. Taufik Ridho died of medical complications on 6 February 2017 at 52 years of age.[31]
After rejecting State Capital Act (UU IKN) and the Criminal Offense Bill of Sexual Abuses (RUU TPKS) in 2021 and 2022 as well as supporting Suharto as National Hero in 2008, some members of the public called for the dissolution of PKS.[32]
Party platform
The party's vision is to bring about a civil society that is just, prosperous and dignified.[33]
Its mission is to:
Pioneer reforms to the political system, government and the bureaucracy, the judicial system and the military to be committed to strengthening democracy.
Address poverty, reduce unemployment and improve the prosperity of all elements of society through a strategy to equalize incomes, high value-added growth and sustained development.
Move towards just education by providing the maximum possible opportunities for all the Indonesian people.
Party figures
Anis Matta and supporters of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) during a campaign that attracted more than 50,000 people ahead of the 9 April 2014 legislative polls in Padang, West Sumatra.
Tate Qomarudin, Member of the Regional People's Representative Council of West Java Province for three terms.
Controversies
PKS Watch
In 2010, a blog site called PKSWatch appeared which criticized PKS policies and received strong reactions from PKS sympathizers, which then prompted the formation of the PKSWatch Watch blog. This site is not an official PKS site. However, recently this site has not appeared again to the public because it feels there are differences in views with PKS.[34]
Forum Kader Peduli
Forum Kader Peduli is a forum formed on September 2008 and is declared in Al Hikmah Mampang Prapatan Mosque, where PKS was declared as a political party for the first time. The forum was headed by Yusuf Supendi, one of the founders of the party. However behind Supendi, there are more influential party members such as Syamsul Balda, former vice president of PKS. This forum was intended to "expose" the "ulcers" of high ranking PKS officials at that time.[35]
Islamic State Illusion Book
On May 16 2009, a book entitled The Illusion of an Islamic State: Expansion of the Transnational Islamic Movement in Indonesia was published by The Wahid Institute, the Bhinneka Tunggal Ika Movement, the Maarif Institute, and the Libforall Foundation.[36] The book launch was attended by former president, Abdurrahman Wahid, former General Chair of PP Muhammadiyah, Ahmad Syafii Maarif and Nahdlatul Ulama figure, Mustofa Bisri.
The book generated controversies domestically and internationally[37] as it portrayed PKS and the Indonesian branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir[38] as an International Islamic hardliner movement. In this book, PKS is described as infiltrating state schools and universities and various institutions including government and Islamic community organizations, including Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah.[39] This book is claimed to have violated the research code of ethics and some information is difficult to believe, such as the inclusion of Gus Dur as editor, even though at that time he was experiencing visual impairment,[40] to the lawsuit of three IAIN Sunan Kalijaga lecturers because they felt their names had been used as part of the research team.[41]
Openness to Non-muslim Members
During their 2008 national working meeting at the Inna Grand Beach Hotel, Sanur, Denpasar, Bali on February 1 2008,[42] some elite members of the party declared PKS as an open party, which means PKS will accept non-Muslim candidates to compete on the party's ticket.[43][44] However, this statement sparked an internal conflict amongst high ranking party members. The chairman of the Central Sharia Council, Surahman Hidayat, stated that he supports this decision[45] but this decision was fiercely opposed by one of the founders of PK, Yusuf Supendi. He accused the chairman of the Syuro Council, Hilmi Aminuddin, and the secretary general at that time, Anis Matta (whom later become party president) as those who wanted PKS to become an open party.[46][47]
In the 2nd Mukernas at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Jakarta, on June 16 2010, the possibility of non-Muslims sitting on the party management was also discussed.[48] However, to date there has been no realization of this possibility, apart from the existence of several non-Muslim legislative candidates competing using PKS tickets for the 2014 Indonesian legislative general election in Eastern Indonesia electoral districts, such as East Nusa Tenggara,[49]North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, Papua and West Papua.[50]
Allegations of Wahhabism
In April 2013, Yenny Wahid, daughter of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, banned cadres of her party, the New Indonesian National Sovereignty Party (PKBIB), which failed to pass KPU verification for the 2014 general election, from joining PKS or PKB. Yenny stated that PKBIB carries the vision of ahlus sunnah wal jamaah, and stated that its cadres should not join parties that do not support this ideology.[51] Responding Yenny's statement, party president Anis Matta states that PKS also carries the same vision[52] and the party fraction leader in the parliament Hidayat Nur Wahid protested Yenny's accusation.[53]
PKS is often accused of being Wahhabi, an Islamic reform movement that does not recognize democratic systems and democratic parties. This issue was directly denied by President Anis Matta, who claimed that PKS did not adhere to any particular sect and opened its membership doors as wide as possible to members of other Islamic organizations.[54]
^ abcdAl-Hamdi, Ridho. (2017). Moving towards a Normalised Path: Political Islam in Contemporary Indonesia. JURNAL STUDI PEMERINTAHAN (JOURNAL OF GOVERNMENT & POLITICS). Vol. 8 No. 1, February 2017. p.53, pp.56-57, p.62.
^Hamayotsu, Kikue (September 2011). "The Political Rise of the Prosperous Justice Party in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia: Examining the Political Economy of Islamist Mobilization in a Muslim Democracy". Asian Survey. 51 (5): 971–992. doi:10.1525/as.2011.51.5.971. JSTOR10.1525/as.2011.51.5.971.
^Ufen, Andreas. (2009). Political parties and democratization in Indonesia, in Marco Bünte and Andreas Ufen (Eds.), Democratization in post-Suharto Indonesia. London and New York: Routledge. pp.160-168.
^Priamarizki, Adhi. (2013). Indonesia’s national elections: Islamic parties at the crossroads, RSIS Commentaries, No. 005 (9 January), pp. 1-2.
