Pancasila, the five principles of Indonesia's state ideology, and political Islam are important aspects of politics in Indonesia. The two political cultures — the secular abangan (the Pancasila group) and the santri (the Islamic group) — have existed throughout Indonesian political history. This chapter examines Indonesian political parties and the general elections between 1955 (the year when Indonesia held its first general election) and 1997 (the year of the last general election held during the Soeharto regime). It explains the evolution of the Indonesian electoral system, from the purely proportional system during the “Liberal Democracy” period under Sukarno to a mixed proportional system during the Soeharto era. At the same time, it examines the socio-religious cleavages of Indonesian political parties from the start of Indonesian independence in 1945 up to the late 1990s.

The 1955 General Election: The Proportional System

Indonesia declared its independence in 1945 but became a sovereign state only in December 1949 after signing the Round Table Treaty with the Dutch. Indonesian history entered a period of parliamentary democracy — it was also called either “Constitutional Democracy” or “Liberal Democracy” — where political parties rather than an authoritarian leader or the military were in power. Sukarno was a figurehead president and the army was subordinate to civilian rule. It should be noted that political parties were established before World War II, but they were unable to form a government during the colonial period. Only after independence were the political parties — many of them an “extension” of pre-war parties — able to fulfil this role. In the early 1950s, the political parties decided to hold a general election to legitimize the government.