The Partai Persatuan Pembangunan : the political journey of Islam under Indonesia's new order (1973-1987)

This thesis deals with the PPP, from its emergence in 1973 until 1987. The study attempts to describe the political journey of this party. It examines the position of the PPP in the political system of Indonesia's New Order as a whole. Immediately after the rise of the New Order government, a systematic program to restructure and simplify the political system was launched. It aimed, primarily, at national stability and the elimination of ideological politics. To the New Order government, an Islamic ideological orientation would only lead to conflicts among political forces and cause chaos, as experienced during the liberal democracy of the Old Order government. The emergence of the PPP being a consequence of the political restructuring launched by the government, the expectation was that it would be a good partner of the government. However, in the first five years of its existence, the PPP tended towards radical politics opposing the government on religious grounds. This opposition, which was again manifested towards the end of the 1970s, was seen by the government as an attempt by Islamic political groups to replace the Pancasila with Islam as the nation's ideology. Such a perception caused a lengthy internal conflict within the partial itself, particularly between the NU and MI, or between the idealist and realist groups. The internal situation of the PPP helped the government enforce the Pancasila as the sole foundation of all social and political parties. The significance of this thesis lies in the fact that no attempt has so far been made to study Islam and politics under the New Order government with a particular focus on the PPP