Parliamentary Democracy: 1949 - late 1950s
Under the decade-long Western style parliament, the presidency held by Sukarno was largely ceremonial; members of political parties sat in parliament, to which a cabinet was responsible, and the army was subordinate to the civil power. The first political gauntlet to be run by the new set-up was the amalgamation of the federated states, for the Dutch had bequeathed the Republic of the United States of Indonesia (RUSI).
The Republic of Indonesia, with its capital in Yogyakarta, was merely one of fifteen states or provinces within RUSI. Republican politicians, most notably Sukarno himself, saw in the federation a Dutch machination to divide the nation and prolong its influence. On August 17th, 1950, this obnoxious state of affairs was terminated and the Yogyakarta-based Republic of Indonesia was born. Yet the change caused anxiety in peripheral areas : they feared excessive centralisation of power in Jakarta, presaging the civil war of the late '50s. The question of the role of Islam remained alike in abeyance : in 1948, those who had wished to create a Muslim state had formed the Darul Islam. Its presence, albeit non-militant, kept the problem visibly open.
In the early '50s, government turnover was rapid : Hatta (December '49 - August '50), Natsir (September '50 - March '51), Sukiman (April '51 - February '52), Wilopo (April '52 - June '53), Ali Sastroamidjodjo (July '53 - July '55), Harahap (August '55 - March '56), and again Ali Sastroamidjojo (March '56 - March '57). The chronic instability and selfishness of governments contrasted sharply with the heroism of the independence struggle, bringing disillusionment. Also, centrifugal tendencies appeared as conflict between the export-producing Outer Islands and the densely-populated island of Java. In December 1956, uprisings by military commanders occurred.
The election results of 1955 had heralded the coming regional dissidence. The popular vote was spread among no less than 28 parties. The leaders were : the Nationalist Party of Indonesia (PNI; 22%); Masjumi (21%) and Nahdatul Ulama (18%), both Islamic parties; and the Communist Party of Indonesia (16%). A working coalition was unthinkable. The PNI, the NU and the PKI, which together commanded 141 of the 257 parliamentary seats, represented the ethnic Javanese heartlands in central and east Java; The Outer Regions and the western third of Java were represented by only one major party : the Masjumi. Non-Javanese felt threatened. Sukarno, already chaffing against his midget presidency, set forth his political philosophy in October 1956 :
The democracy I crave for Indonesia is not liberal democracy such as exists in Western Europe. No! What I want for Indonesia is a guided democracy, a democracy with leadership. A guided democracy, a guided democracy, something which is guided but still democracy.
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