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Indonesia Guided Democracy
Sukarno had long been impatient with party politics and
suggested in a speech on October 28, 1956, that they be
discarded.
Soon after, he introduced the concept of Guided Democracy.
Although
the concept was new in name, its various themes had been
part of
the president's thinking since before the war. In the
first years
of independence, his freedom of action had been limited by
parliamentary institutions. But on March 14, 1957, the
liberal
phase of Indonesian history was brought to an end with
Sukarno's
proclamation of martial law. In an unstable and ultimately
catastrophic coalition with the army and the PKI, he
sought to
rescue the fragile unity of the archipelago.
The year witnessed the move of the PKI to the center of
the
political stage. In provincial elections held in July 1957
in Jawa
Barat and Jawa Tengah provinces, the PKI won 34 percent of
the
vote, ahead of the other major parties--the PNI, Nahdatul
Ulama,
and Masyumi--although Masyumi defeated the PKI narrowly in
Jawa
Timur Province. The PKI's success was attributable to
superior
grass-roots organization, the popular appeal of its demand
for land
reform, and its support for Sukarno's Guided Democracy
idea. As
tensions between the republic and the Netherlands over
West New
Guinea grew, PKI-controlled unions led a movement to
nationalize
Dutch-owned firms: on December 3, 1957, the Royal
Packetship
Company (KPM), which controlled most of the archipelago's
shipping,
was seized and, two days later, Royal Dutch Shell. Some
46,000
Dutch nationals were expelled from Indonesia, and Nasution
ordered
officers of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia
(ABRI),
which had been involved in economic affairs since the late
1940s,
to take a role in managing nationalized firms. This action
marked
the beginning of the armed forces' role in the economy, a
role
which grew substantially in later years
(see Participation in the Economy
, ch. 5). Control of the oil industry was seized by
ABRI,
and Colonel Ibnu Sutowo, Nasution's deputy, was placed in
charge of
a new national oil company, Permina.
On December 1, 1956, Mohammad Hatta had resigned as
vice
president in protest against Sukarno's growing
authoritarianism.
Hatta's exit from the political scene did not improve the
relations
among the central government, Sumatra, and the eastern
archipelago,
where Hatta was very popular. On February 10, 1958, when
Sukarno
was out of the country, a group of Sumatran military
officers,
Masyumi politicians, and others sent an ultimatum to
Jakarta
demanding Sukarno's return to a figurehead role as
president and
the formation of a new government under Hatta and
Yogyakarta sultan
Hamengkubuwona IX. Five days later, the group proclaimed
the
Revolutionary Government of the Indonesian Republic
(PRRI). On
February 17, Permesta rebels in Sulawesi made common cause
with
them. Although the rebellion was not completely suppressed
until
1961, decisive action by the military had neutralized it
by mid1958 . There were several important consequences: the
forced
retirement of many officers from Sumatra and the eastern
archipelago, making the officer corps proportionately more
Javanese
(and presumably more loyal to Sukarno); the firm
implantation of
central authority in the Outer Islands; and the emergence
of
Nasution, promoted to lieutenant general, as the most
powerful
military leader. But the army's victory in suppressing
regional
rebellion caused Sukarno dismay. To offset the military's
power,
Sukarno's ties with the PKI grew closer.
The PRRI revolt also soured Sukarno's relations with
the United
States. He accused Washington of supplying the rebels with
arms and
angrily rejected a United States proposal that marines be
landed in
the Sumatra oil-producing region to protect American lives
and
property. The United States was providing clandestine aid
to the
rebels and Allen Pope, an American B-25 pilot, was shot
down over
Ambon on May 18, 1958, creating an international incident.
Deteriorating relations prompted Sukarno to develop closer
relations with the Soviet Union and, especially, the
People's
Republic of China.
In July 1958, Nasution suggested that the best way to
achieve
Guided Democracy was through reinstatement of the 1945
constitution
with its strong "middle way," presidential system. On July
5, 1959,
Sukarno issued a decree to this effect, dissolving the old
House of
Representatives. This marked the formal establishment of
the period
of Guided Democracy which lasted six years. In March 1960,
a new
legislature, the House of People's Representatives-Mutual
Self-help
(DPR-GR; later, simply DPR) was established. One hundred
fifty-four
of its 238 seats were given to representatives of
"functional
groups," including the military, which became known as
Golkar (see Glossary).
All were appointed rather than elected. As many
as 25
percent of the seats were allocated for the PKI. Another
body, the
616-member Provisional People's Consultative Assembly
(MPRS; later,
simply MPR), was established with communist leader Dipa
Nusantara
Aidit as deputy chairman. In August 1960, Masyumi and the
PSI were
declared illegal, a reflection of their role in the PRRI
insurrection, the MPRS's enmity toward Sukarno, and its
refusal to
recognize Guided Democracy.
Data as of November 1992
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