Guided Democracy (1957–1965)

Guided Democracy ( _id. Demokrasi Terpimpin) was the political system in place in Indonesia from 1957 until the New Order began in 1966. It was the brainchild of President Sukarno, and was an attempt to bring about political stability. Instead, he sought a system based on the traditional village system of discussion and consensus, which occurred under the guidance of village elders. He proposed a threefold blend of "nasionalisme" ('nationalism'), "agama" ('religion'), and "komunisme" ('communism') into a co-operative 'Nas-A-Kom' government. This was intended to appease the three main factions in Indonesian politics — the army, Islamic groups, and the communists. With the support of the military, he proclaimed in February 1957, 'Guided Democracy', and proposed a cabinet of representing all the political parties of importance (including the PKI). Western-style parliamentary democracy was thus finished in Indonesia until the 1999 elections of the "Reformasi" era.

Background

The Liberal Democracy period from the reestablishment of the unitary Republic of Indonesian in 1950 until the declaration of martial law in 1957 saw the rise and fall of six cabinets, the longest-lasting surviving for just under two years. Even Indonesia's first national elections in 1955 failed to bring about political stability.

In 1957, Indonesia faced a series of crises, including the beginning of the Permesta rebellion in Makassar and the army takeover of authority in South Sumatra. One of the demands of the Permesta rebels was that 70 percent of the members of Sukarno's proposed National Council should be members from the regions (i.e. non-Javanese). Another demand was that the cabinet and National Council be led by the dual-leadership (Indonesian: "dwitunggal") of Sukarno and former Vice-President Hatta (Simanjuntak, 2003).

In March 1957, Sukarno accepted Army chief of staff Nasution's proposal for a declaration of martial law across the whole nation. This would put the military in charge, and would be a way to deal with the rebellious army commanders, as it would effectively legitimize them. [Ricklefs 1982, p243]

In the face of a growing political crisis amid splits in the cabinet, Prime Minister Ali Sastroadmidjojo returned his mandate to the president on 14 March.

The establishment of Guided Democracy

In October 1956, President Sukarno made an official visit to the People's Republic of China. He was impressed with the progress made there since the Civil War. He concluded that this was due to the strong leadership of Mao Zedong, whose centralization of power was in sharp contrast to the political disorder in Indonesia. According to former foreign minister Ide Anak Agung Gde Agung, Sukarno began to believe he had been "chosen by providence" to lead the people and "build a new society"Ide Anak Agung, (1973) pp. 251–252.] ..

Shortly after his return from China, on 30 October 1956 Sukarno spoke of his "konsepsi" (concept) of a new system of government. Two days earlier he had called for the political parties to be buried. Initially the parties were opposed to the idea, but once it became clear that they would not need to be abolished, the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) threw its support behind Sukarno.

On 21 February 1957, Sukarno detailed his plan. It would be a form of government more suited to the nature of Indonesia, as opposed to the western system. The centerpiece would be a 'mutual cooperation' cabinet of the major parties advised by a National Council (Indonesian: "Dewan Nasional") of functional groups. The legislature would not be abolished. As well as the PKI, the Indonesian National Party (PNI) supported Sukarno, while the Islamist Masjumi opposed the plan. There were demonstrations in support of it.

On 15 March 1957 President Sukarno appointed PNI chairman Soewirjo to form a "working cabinet", which would be tasked with establishing the National Council in accordance with the president's concept. However, that fact that Masjumi were not asked to participate in the formation of the cabinet led to Soewirjo's efforts coming to nothing. However, on 25 March, Sukarno asked Soewirjo to try again, and gave him one week to for a cabinet, but once again, Soewirjo failed. Finally, Sukarno held a meeting with 69 party figures at the state Palace on 4 April, at which he announced his intention to form an emergency extra-parliamentary working cabinet, and that "citizen" Sukarno would set it up. The new "Working Cabinet", headed by non-party prime Minister Djuanda was announced on 8 April 1957 at the Bogor Palace. Although the PKI was not included, several members were sympathetic to the party. [Ricklefs 1982] In fact, in theory, it was a non-party cabinet.

The National Council was established in May 1957. It was chaired by Sukarno, and comprised representatives of groups such as peasants, workers and women as well as the various religions.

Meanwhile, the army was trying to enhance its role by establishing functional groups of its own. In June 1957 Nasution began trying to woo the parties' functional groups and managed to unite the veterans groups under army control. He also used martial law to arrest several politicians for alleged corruption, while regional army commanders restricted party activities, particularly those of the PKI, whose headquarters in Jakarta was attacked in July.

On 3 December, followings the failure of a United Nations resolution calling on the Netherlands to negotiate with Indonesia over the West Irian issue, PKI and PNI unions began taking over Dutch companies, but 11 days later, Nasution stated that the army would run these companies. This gave the army a major economic role.

Regional rebellions

CIA-backed, and UK and Australian governments supported rebellions occurred in Sumatra and Sulawesi in 1958. These were reactions to Sukarno's seizing of power, the increasing influence of the PKI, and corruption and mismanagement of the central government, and against the domination of Java.cite book | last =Witton | first =Patrick | title =Indonesia | publisher =Lonely Planet | year =2003 | location =Melbourne | pages =page 29 | isbn=1-74059-154-2 ] In September and October 1957, various rebellious army officers, including members of the Permesta movement held meetings in Sumatra. They agreed on three objectives: the appointment of a less pro-PKI president, the replacement of Nasution and the banning of the PKI. Some of these regional rebels were subsequently accused of involvement in the assassination attempt on Sukarno on 30 November. On 10 February, rebels including army officers and Masjumi leaders meeting in Padang, Sumatra, issued an ultimatum to the government demanding dissolution of the cabinet, elections and the adoption by Sukarno of a figurehead role. Five days later, came the announcement of a rebel government, the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PRRI) based in Bukitinggi, Sumatra. It was joined two days later by the Permesta rebels in Sulawesi.

Despite US support in the form of arms for the PRRI rebels, the Indonesian military defeated the rebels with a combination of aerial bombardment and operations by troops landed from Java. By the middle of 1958, the rebellions had been effectively quashed but guerrilla activity persisted for three years. Amnesty was granted to rebel leaders although their political parties were banned. Early nationalist leaders were discredited including former Prime Minister, Sutan Syahrir, who along with others was arrested in 1962.

Between 1959 and 1965, the US supplied $64 million in military aid to the Indonesian generals.Head, M., Interviews and documents show US orchestrated Suharto's 1965-66 slaughter in Indonesia, http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/jul1999/indo1-j19.shtml]

Return to the 1945 Constitution

In 1958, Masjumi and the NU — the party of the Nahdlatul Ulama, which had split from Masjumi in 1952 — called for the planned 1959 elections to be postponed as they feared a PKI victory. In September, Djuanda announced the postponement. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Assembly was still unable to reach agreement on the basis of a new constitution, and was deadlocked between those who wanted Indonesia to be an Islamic state, and those who supported the idea of the state based on the Pancasila ideology. In July , Nasution proposed returning to the 1945 Constitution, and in September, he banned Masjumi.

Gradually, this gained support from the political parties, and on 5 July 1959, Sukarno issued a decree reinstating the 1945 Constitution and dissolving the Constitutional Assembly. Four days later, a working cabinet with Sukarno as prime minister was announced, and in July, the National Council and Supreme Advisory Council were established. Although the parties continued to exist, only the PKI had any real strength. [Ricklefs 1982, page 254]

Acronyms and economic chaos

In his Independence Day address on 17 August 1957, Sukarno laid down the ideology of guided democracy, later renamed "Manipol" (Political manifesto). This was later expanded into the ideology known as USDEK — standing for the 1945 Constitution, Indonesian socialism, guided democracy, guided economy and Indonesian nationalism.

On 25 August 1959, the government implemented sweeping anti-inflationary measures, devaluing the currency by 75 percent and declaring that all Rp500 and Rp1000 notes would henceforth be worth one tenth of their face value. Meanwhile, anti-ethnic Chinese measures, including repatriations to and forcible moves of people to the cities damaged economic confidence further. However, by 1960, inflation had reached 100 percent per annum.

The rise of the PKI

In an attempt to strengthen his position in his rivalry with Nasution, Sukarno gradually became closer to the PKI and to the Indonesian Air Force. In March 1960, Sukarno dissolved the legislature after it had rejected his budget. In June, Mutual Cooperation House of Representatives (DPR-GR), in which the armed services had representation as functional groups, and a Provisional people's Consultative Assembly (MPRS) were established, with the PKI chairman, D.N. Aidit as a deputy chairman. The PKI was estimated to have 17–25 percent of the seats in the DPR-GR (Ricklefs 1982, p256), and now had representation in all institutions of state except the cabinet. Despite actions against the PKI by regional army commanders, Sukarno repeatedly defended it. Sukarno also began pushing his ideology uniting Nationalism, Religion and Communism, which would become known as 'Nasakom'.

However, the army's successes in defeating various rebellions, including the PRRI and the Darul Islam movement in west Java meant that Nasution still had the initiative. Therefore, in December 1960, Sukarno established the Supreme Operations Command 9KOTI), to ensure that the campaign to wrest West Irian from the Dutch would not be controlled by the military. Actual combat operations were to be directed by the Mandala command, headed by (future president) Major-General Suharto. The PKI, anxious to make use of the nationalism issue to cement it alliance with Sukarno (Mortimer 1974), wholeheartedly supported this effort. In June 1962, Sukarno managed to foil Nasution's attempt to be appointed armed forces commander, becoming chief of staff with no direct military commanding role, although he kept his position as minister of defense and security.

By 1962, the PKI had over two million members, and in March, Sukarno made two of its key figures, Aidit and Njoto, ministers without portfolio.

In 1962 the Irian Jaya (as west Irian was now called) issue was resolved with the Dutch agreeing a transfer to UN administration. It was later transferred to Indonesia after the controversial 'Act of Free Choice' in 1969. [ Simpson, Brad. "Indonesia's 1969 Takeover of West Papua Not by "Free Choice." The National Security Archive, The George Washington University (USA) [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB128/index.htm] ]

In 1963 came the announcement that the state of Malaysia, incorporating the former British colonial possessions in northern Borneo would be established. Once again, the PKI sought to exploit the issue and organized demonstrations in Jakarta, during which the British Embassy was burned to the ground. On 17 September, Indonesian broke off diplomatic relations with Malaysia, and shortly after, the low level conflict known as "konfrontasi" (confrontation) was announced (see Konfrontasi).

In late 1963, the PKI began a "unilateral action" (Indonesian: "aksi sepihak") campaign to implement the 1959–1960 land reform laws, which led to violent conflict with NU supporters.

Meanwhile, the army became increasingly concerned with the domestic situation and began secret contacts with Malaysia, while obstructing "konfrontasi". At the same time, both the Soviet Union and the United States began courting the Indonesian army. The Soviet Union was anxious to reduce the influence of the China-oriented PKI, while the US was worried about communism "per se", and large numbers of Indonesian officers traveled to the US for military training. However, the PKI was also targeting the army, and was attempting to infiltrate it.

In early 1965, Aidit proposed to Sukarno the creation of an armed "fifth force" (i.e. in addition to the army, navy, air force and police) made up of armed workers and peasants and the appointment of Nasakom advisers to the each of the armed forces. This was a direct threat to the army. In 1965, Sukarno announced the discovery of a document allegedly written by the British ambassador, the so-called Gilchrist Document, which was touted as proof of army plots against the government.

The end of Guided Democracy

In August 1965, Sukarno announced that Indonesia was withdrawing from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and in his Independence Day speech on 17 August, announced the Jakarta-Phnom Penh-Hanoi-Peking-Pyongyang Axis, and said that the people would be armed. On 27 September, Nasution announced that he opposed the "fifth force" and the "Nasakomization" of the army.

On the night of 30 September 1965, six generals were kidnapped and murdered and a group calling itself the 30 September Movement seized control of the national radio station and the center of Jakarta. Although the movement was quickly crushed by Suharto it marked the end of guided democracy and of Sukarno as an effective president. The New Order regime established by Suharto had its own ideology — Pancasila Democracy.

References

Bibliography

* Feith, Herbert (2007) "The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia " Equinox Publishing (Asia) Pte Ltd, ISBN 979-3870-45-2
* Ricklefs, M.C. (1982), "A History of Modern Indonesia", Macmillan Southeast Asian reprint, ISBN 0-333-24380-3
* Mortimer,, Rex, "Indonesian Communism Under Sukarno: Ideology and Politics, 1959–1965", Cornell University Press, New York ISBN 0-8014-0825-3
* Simanjuntak, P.H.H (2003) "Kabinet-Kabinet Republik Indonesia: Dari Awal Kemerdekaan Sampai Reformasi (Cabinets of the Republic of Indonesia: From the Start of Independence to the Reform era", Penerbit Djambatan, Jakarta, ISBN 979-428-499-8

Notes