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Why Indonesia's Attempt at Democracy in the Mid-1950s Failed

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Goh Cheng Teik
Affiliation:
University of Malaya

Extract

Before embarking on an analysis of Indonesia's attempt at democracy, a working definition of this term is required. This is particularly necessary in view of Herbert Feith's contention in his monumental work, The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia, that the period of democracy stretched from December 1949 till March 1957.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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References

1 Feith, H., The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia, Ithaca, 1962, pp. xixii.Google Scholar

2 Needless to say, this comment does not in any way detract from Feith's, H. work or its merit as a piece of outstanding scholarship.Google Scholar

3 Sukarno, Mohammad Hatta, Sutan Sjahrir and numerous other nationalists were arrested by the Dutch police for their anti-colonialist activities and exiled to remote fringes of the Indonesian archipelago.Google Scholar

4 Ratu Adil or Just Prince is the Javanese Mahdi. According to popular myths, revived in the twentieth century, a Messiah will arise and relieve the people of their suffering.Google Scholar Sukarno's subtle attempt to use these traditional beliefs to his personal advantage is discussed in Dahm, B., Sukarno and the Struggle for Indonesian Independence, Cornell UP, Ithaca and London, 1969.Google Scholar

5 Walker, M. P., Indonesian Elections and Party Development, 1954–1955, unpublished M.A. thesis, Berkeley, 1957, p. 32.Google Scholar

6 Ibid., p. 32.

7 Ibid., p. 35; Feith, Decline, p. 273.

8 Ibid., pp. 58 ff.

9 Walker, , op cit., p. 26.Google Scholar

10 Feith, H., The Wilopo Cabinet, 1952–1953: A Turning Point in Post-Revolutionary Indonesia, Cornell Monograph, 1958, pp. 103 ff. For the view of a participant,Google Scholar seeNasution, A. H., Sedjarah Perdjuangan Nasional dibidang Bersendjata, Djakarta, 1966, pp. 167–9. Nasution is apologetic for his role in this show of strength but he insists that only a third of the nominees in Parliament were republicans, the remaining two-thirds being delegates from the former federal states sponsored by H. van Mook.Google Scholar

11 Walker, , op. cit., p. 39.Google Scholar

12 Ibid., pp. 40 ff.

13 A table of the registered voters by province and district prepared by Soelaeman Soemardi of the Institute for Social Research, Djakarta is reproduced as an appendix in Wertheim, W. F., Indonesian Society in Transition, The Hague, 2nd ed., 1964.Google Scholar

14 Walker, , op. cit., p. 69.Google Scholar

15 Feith, H., The Indonesian Elections of 1955, Cornell Monograph, 1957, pp. 10 ff.Google Scholar

16 Feith, , Elections, pp. 45–8;Google ScholarMarle, A. Van, The First Indonesian Parliamentary Elections, Indonesie, ix, 1956, p. 257.Google Scholar

17 Feith, , Decline, p. 429.Google Scholar

18 Walker, , op. cit., p. 79.Google Scholar

19 Feith, , Decline, pp. 576 ff.Google Scholar

20 Kahin, G. M. (ed.), Major Governments of Asia, Ithaca, 2nd ed., 1963, pp. 623–35.Google Scholar

21 Cited in Pauker, E., The failure of a democratic experiment: Indonesia, 1955–1958, unpublished M.A. thesis, Berkeley, 1962, p. 54.Google Scholar

22 Sukarno, , Dari Proklamasi sampai Gesuri (A Collection of Speeches on Independence Day), Djakarta, n.d., p. 329.Google Scholar

23 Sukarno's concept of ‘Guided Democracy’ was partly influenced by what he saw in China in 1956. Later he reported at a Bandung meeting that he saw four groups in China—intelligentsia, peasantry, proletariat and national bourgeoisie— working together in harmony and unity. That was why China had been making amazing strides in construction.

‘The condition of our political party system at present is a bankrupt condition, an unhealthy condition. We must change it in the way I saw in the Chinese People's Republic. I have repeatedly said that the democracy I would like in Indonesia is not the liberal democracy of Western Europe, but a guided democracy—guided, though still a democracy.’ New China News Agency, 12 November 1956 and Observer Foreign News Service, 13 November 1956.

24 For information on the Indonesian parties, refer Kahin, G. M., Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia, Ithaca, 1952, pp. 304–31; Feith, Decline, pp. 122–45;Google ScholarSoedjatmoko, , ‘The role of political parties in Indonesia’ in Thayer, P. W. (ed.), Nationalism and Progress in Free Asia, Baltimore, 1956Google ScholarKees, B., ‘Observations on the political situation in Indonesia’ in Vlekke, B. H. M. (ed.), Indonesia in 1956: Political and Economic Aspects, The Hague, 1957.Google Scholar

25 Dawn, 24 September 1955.Google Scholar

26 Feith, , Wilopo, p. 145.Google Scholar

27 Ibid., pp. 44 ff.

28 Ibid., p. 158.

29 Feith, , Decline, pp. 424 ff.Google Scholar

30 Feith, , Wilopo, p. 145.Google Scholar

31 Harian Rakjat report cited by NCNA, 8 March 1956.Google Scholar

32 Feith, , Decline, pp. 468–9.Google Scholar

33 NCNA, 29 March 1956.Google Scholar

34 NCNA, 21 November 1956.Google Scholar

35 Feith, , Decline, pp. 394 ff.Google Scholar

36 Ibid., pp. 414–61, passim.

37 Ibid., pp. 462–81, passim.

38 The results are given in Feith, , Elections, p. 65.Google Scholar

39 Calculated from figures provided by Feith, in Elections, pp. 66–7.Google Scholar

40 A perceptive and sympathetic discussion of the Indonesian army's problems is offered by Pauker, G. J., ‘The Role of the Military in Indonesia’ in Johnson, J. J. (ed.), The Role of the Military in underdeveloped countries, Princeton, 1962.Google Scholar On the military revolts in 1956 and 1957, see van der Kroef, J. M., ‘The Place of the Army in Indonesian Politics’, Eastern World, 01 1957; ‘Instability in Indonesia’, Far Eastern Survey, April 1957 and ‘Guided Democracy’ in Indonesia, Far Eastern Survey, August 1957;Google ScholarVlekke, B. H. M. (ed.) Indonesia's Struggle, 1957–8, The Hague, 1959;Google ScholarPauker, E., Failure, pp. 67 ff and Feith, Decline, pp. 487 ff.Google Scholar

41 Cited in Pauker, E., Failure, p. 114. A New York Times report said on 25 December 1956 that from January to September 1958, 71% of the country's foreign exchange was earned by Sumatra. For a useful discussion of the economic relations between the outer islands and Djakarta, see Fryer, D. W., ‘Economic Aspects of Indonesian Disunity’, Pacific Affairs, September 1957.Google Scholar

42 A detailed study of the North Sumatran situation in 1956 and 1957 has been made by Smail. See Smail, J. R. W., ‘The Military Politics of North Sumatra: December 1956–October 1957’, Indonesia, October 1968.Google Scholar

43 Lt.-Col. Saleh Lahade, a co-signer of the Piagram Perdjuangan Semesta alleged that since independence, no improvements had been made. ‘The regional people…continue to live in deplorable conditions and poverty. Development is lagging, the economy stagnated, mosques, schools, barracks are in ruin and are not repaired because there is no money; if asked from the central government it is not granted; there is no money it was said, but funds are available for the construction of big buildings in Djakarta, for receptions and travelling abroad.’ Cited in Pauker, E., Failure, p. 68.Google Scholar

44 Dawn, 29 December 1956.Google Scholar

45 Times, 29 December 1956.Google Scholar

46 This decision of the Central Committee was reportedly opposed by the party's Djakarta branch, NCNA, 31 December 1956.Google Scholar

47 Dawn, 20 February 1957.Google Scholar

48 NCNA, 22 January 1957.Google Scholar

49 NCNA, 14 February 1957.Google Scholar

50 NCNA, 18 March 1957. Aidit was reported to have even told Suwirjo that PKI would not oppose one or two Masjumi ministers if they were ‘genuine experts’. NCNA. 1 April 1957.Google Scholar

51 Sakarno said on 30 July 1957: ‘I also want to head a cabinet, but it must be a gotong royong cabinet’ Cited in Pauker, E., Failure, p. 87.Google Scholar

52 NCNA, 5 April 1957.Google Scholar

53 On the transition to ‘guided democracy’, see Lev, D. S., The Transition to Guided Democracy: Indonesian Politics, 1957–1959, Cornell Monograph, 1966.Google Scholar

54 on the PRRI rebellion, see van der Kroef, J. M., ‘Disunited Indonesia I & II’, Far Eastern Survey, April & May 1958;Google ScholarKoppelman, E., Revolution in Indonesia, 1958–1961, unpublished M.A. thesis, Berkeley, 1965Google ScholarFeith, H. & Lev, D. S., ‘The end of the Indonesian rebellion’, Pacific Affairs, Spring 1963.Google Scholar