The 1977 Indonesian Election And New Order Legitimacy

Abstract

the cause of this tension was the difference between what the government said and what it did, between the stated commitment to build Panca Sila Democracy and the general perception of few-holds-barred manipulations designed to ensure government victory and opposition defeat. The effect was that, despite a 62% popular majority, the government's goal of maintaining its right to rule through electoral processes was not achieved. Ongoing conflicts over leadership, policies, and constitutional issues have thus not been resolved and indeed have been only marginally influenced (probably to the disadvantage of the present government) by the campaign and its outcome. Establishing Legitimate Government in Indonesia In liberal democratic theory, elections are'the link between the principle of popular sovereignty and the practice of government by a small number of officials. Citizens choose their leaders and, through those choices, decide on the substantive issues of the day. Assurance that election results reflect the people's will is provided by a set of guarantees ? usually contained in a constitution or other basic law ?concerning freedoms of speech, press and assembly, election procedures, an independent judiciary, and so on. These rules are accepted by politicians as a given of the system in which they operate and constitute an essential constraint on their behaviour. From the early days of Indonesian nationalism, popular sovereignty has been the generally accepted legitimating principle of government. The 1950 Constitution, on which the first posttransfer of sovereignty governments was based, expressed this principle in liberal democratic terms. An elected Parliament and a cabinet chosen by majority rule were the central institutions of government. In the first general election in 1955, a large number of parties competed for 257 seats in Parliament. Four were successful: the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI), with 22.3% of the votes and 57 seats; the Masyumi, a modernist Muslim party, with 20.9% of the vote and 57 seats; the Nahdatul Ulama (NU), a more conservative Islamic party, with 18.4% and 45 seats; the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) with 16.4% and 39 seats. No other party won more than 8 seats (Herbert Feith, The Indonesian Elections of 1955, Ithaca,