Prosperous Justice Party

Prosperous Justice Party
Partai Keadilan Sejahtera
Founded 20 April 2002
(20 July 1998 as Justice Party)
Headquarters Jakarta
Ideology Islamic democracy
Islamism[1][2][3]
Ballot number 3 (2014)
DPR Seats
40 / 560
Website
http://www.pks.or.id

The Prosperous Justice Party (Indonesian: Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS)), sometimes called the Justice and Prosperity Party, is a political party in Indonesia. The party has been called Islamist for its calls for Islam to play a central role in public life.[4] PKS is led by M. Sohibul Iman.

History

The party was established as the Justice Party on July 20, 1998, with Nurmahmudi Ismail as its first president. The Justice Party was reconstituted as the Prosperous Justice Party in April 2002 after the Justice Party failed to meet the required two percent of electoral threshold in the 1999 election that it needed to contest the 2004 election.[5] During the 2004 legislative elections, the PKS won 7.3% of the popular vote and 45 out of 550 seats, making it the seventh-largest party in parliament. This was a gain from the 1.4% received in 1999. In addition, its leader Hidayat Nur Wahid was elected speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly. PKS's strongest support is in major urban centers, particularly Jakarta, where it won the largest share of seats in 2004. In the 2009 elections, the party's came fourth, its share of the vote rose to 7.88% and it gained 12 extra legislative seats.[6][7][8][9] It now has 57 seats in the People's Representative Council.

The PKS is known for its public opposition to political corruption; this stance was widely reported as a major factor in the party's increased success in 2004.[10] However, this image has been under attack in recent times, as several alleged cases of grafts are suspected to be connected to several prominent party politicians.[11][12][13] The party is closely associated with Islamic teachings, but according to its leadership does not promote the mandatory implementation of sharia, requiring Indonesia's Muslims to follow Islamic law.[14] Many of its campaigns are based on conservative religious teachings, such as opposition to the selling of pornography,[15] and for strict punishments for violations of narcotics laws.[16]

The party has been associated with the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood; several of its founders attended Brotherhood-related schools.[17] The organization stages rallies supporting Hamas in its conflict with Israel, and against the influence of the United States both in the Middle East and in Indonesia.[18]

After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, PKS sent volunteer relief workers to Aceh,[19] and has been involved in several other relief and reconstruction projects.

Over the years, the party has experienced prolonged internal rivalry, particularly between camps that can be identified as pragmatist on the one hand, and idealist on the other. The pragmatist camp has generally been made up of younger, secular-educated functionaries while older functionaries who often are graduates from institutes in the Middle East make up the idealist camp.[20]

The October 5, 2011 edition of Indonesian TV news program "Liputan 6 Petang" reported PKS Deputy Secretary-General and member of Indonesia's House of Representatives Fahri Hamzah had recently floated the idea of disbanding Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi or KPK).[21][22] According to Kompas daily, Deputy Chairman of House of Representatives Commission III responsible for legal affairs, human rights and security Fahri Hamzah first made the suggestion to disband the Corruption Eradication Commission in a consultation meeting at the House on Monday October 3, 2011.[23]

Party platform

The party's vision is to bring about a civil society that is just, prosperous and dignified.

Its mission is to:

  1. Pioneer reforms to the political system, government and the bureaucracy, the judicial system and the military to be committed to strengthening democracy.
  2. Address poverty, reduce unemployment and improve the prosperity of all elements of society through a strategy to equalize incomes, high value-added growth and sustained development.
  3. Move towards just education by providing the maximum possible opportunities for all the Indonesian people.[24]

Election results

Legislative election results

Election Total seats won Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Election leader
1999
7 / 500
 1,436,565 1.36% Increase7 seats Nur Mahmudi Ismail
2004
45 / 550
 8,325,020 7.34% Increase38 seats Hidayat Nur Wahid
2009
57 / 560
 8,204,946 7.88% Increase12 seats, Governing coalition (Demokrat-Golkar-PKS-PAN-PPP-PKB) Tifatul Sembiring
2014
40 / 560
 8,480,204 6.79% Decrease17 seats, Opposition (Gerindra-Golkar-Demokrat-PPP-PKS-PAN) Anis Matta

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/as.2011.51.5.971?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
  2. ↑ http://press.anu.edu.au/titles/islam-in-southeast-asia/islam_indo_citation/
  3. ↑ http://www.academia.edu/3399321/PROSPEROUS_JUSTICE_PARTY_PKS_IN_THE_INDONESIAN_MASS_MEDIA
  4. ↑ Dhume, Sadanand. (December 1, 2005). Indonesian Democracy’s Enemy Within. Yale Global.
  5. ↑ Justice Party to merge with Prosperous Justice Party. Antara, April 16, 2003.
  6. ↑ Tempo magazine No. 0931/March 31-April 06, 2009, pp46-47
  7. ↑ PKS wants coalition with nationalist party. Asia Daily News Online 16 February 2009 (access date 9 April 2009).
  8. ↑ Indonesian General Election Commission website Official Election Results
  9. ↑ Indonesian General Election Commission website KPU Ubah Perolehan Kursi Parpol di DPR (KPU Changes Allocations of Parties' seats in the DPR (15 May 2009)) Access date 2009-05-24 (indonesian)
  10. ↑ General contenders, Business Asia, May 3, 2004.
  11. ↑ Hasyim Widhiarto and Rendi Akhmad Witular "Alleged cases of graft shaking up ostensibly clean PKS", Jakarta Post, March 28, 2011.
  12. ↑ Andhini, "Diduga Korupsi, Sejumlah Petinggi PKS Dilaporkan ke BK DPR", MetroTVNews.com, March 17. 2011.
  13. ↑ Taufik Hidayat, "Isu Poligami & Korupsi Menggembosi Dukungan PKS", Okezone.com, March 27, 2011.
  14. ↑ Indonesia: Islamic party not to implement Shari'ah "strictly" if elected. BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific, May 3, 2006.
  15. ↑ Alliance failes to coax PKS on porn bill. The Jakarta Post, July 8, 2006
  16. ↑ Gov't urged to execute convicted drug traffickers on death row soon. Antara March 22, 2005
  17. ↑ Sadanand Dhume, Indonesian democracy’s enemy within, YaleGlobal.
  18. ↑ Parties protest Israeli attack, The Jakarta Post, July 17, 2006.
  19. ↑ Ellen Nakashima, Indonesian Islamic party reaps rewards of goodwill. The Washington Post. January 14, 2005.
  20. ↑ Muhtadi, Burhanuddin (2012). Dilema PKS: Suara dan Syariah. Jakarta, Indonesia: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia (KPG). p. 335. ISBN 9789799104380.
  21. ↑ Detik.com
  22. ↑ Fahri's own web site, Fahri Hamzah: KPK has to watch what it says
  23. ↑ Kompas daily 5/10/11, Burhanuddin: Fahri made a blunder by suggesting KPK be disbanded
  24. ↑ "Falsafah Dasar Perjuangan dan Platform Kebijakan Pembangunan PKS (Basic Philospophy and Development Policy Playform of the PKS)". PKS website (in Indonesian). PKS. Retrieved 7 April 2014.

External links

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