Catholic Party (Indonesia)
The Catholic Party of the Republic of Indonesia, or simply known as the Catholic Party, was a political party in the Dutch East Indies and later Indonesia for the Catholic community which existed from 1923 to 1973. In 1967 members were involved in debates concerning religious freedom in the New Order and the influence of missionaries on the nation. In the following decade it merged with other parties to form the Indonesian Democratic Party, which has since been renamed the Indonesian Democratic Vanguard Party.
History
Pre-independence
The participation of Catholics in Indonesia begun in the 1920s. In 1923, Fredericus Soetrisno Harjadi, Ignatius Joseph Kasimo, and others formed the Javan Catholic Political Union. In the political situation of the Dutch East Indies, PPKD joined itself with the Indische Katholieke Partij, a federation of Catholic organization in the Dutch East Indies, which was formed in November 1918. Even though PPKD was more oriented to Javanese nationalism, IKP itself was more oriented to the interests of the Dutch Catholics. This conflict of interest led PPKD to split from the IKP, and on 22 February 1925, PPKD transformed itself into a political party. Later, PPKD would transform its name into the Indonesian Catholic Political Union .Inside the Volksraad, PPKI and IKP were separated from each other. PPKI was located in the left group, a group of political parties in Volksraad consisting of Indonesians, while IKP was located in middle group, which consisted of Dutch. The left group would later form the Indonesian Political Federation in 1939.
During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, PPKI was officially abolished by the Japanese. Even though the Japanese officially dissolved PPKI, the executive council of PPKI did not respond to the abolition, and PPKI went underground.
Independence
After the independence of Indonesia on 17 August 1945, Sukarno as the president of Indonesia formed the Central Indonesian National Committee twelve days later. I.J. Kasimo, the chairman of PPKI, was appointed as the member of KNIP. To formalize the representation of PPKI in the committee, PPKI changed its name to the Catholic Party of the Republic of Indonesia on 8 December 1945.During the Indonesia National Revolution, the headquarters of the party was located in Surakarta. By the decision of the council on 11 July 1948, the headquarters was moved to Jogjakarta. In 1948, after the Dutch seized Jogjakarta, PKRI went underground, with its chairman, I.J. Kasimo, working in Sumatra due to his appointment as the Minister of Trade. Other figures from the party which had been appointed as minister are Fredericus Soetrisno Harjadi and Soewarto. The underground hiding ended in the beginning of July 1949 when the Indonesian government returned to Yogyakarta.
From 7 until 12 December 1949, PKRI held the All-Indonesian Catholic Congress in Jogjakarta. The congress was attended by delegations from all over Indonesia. The congress discussed about the unity of the Catholic people in Indonesia. The congress also decided to unite all of the Catholic organizations in the United States of Indonesia at that time:
- Partai Katolik Republik Indonesia in Surakarta.
- Partai Katolik Rakyat Indonesia in Makassar.
- Partai Katolik Rakyat Indonesia in Flores.
- Partai Katolik Indonesia Timur in Timor.
- Persatuan Politik Katolik Flores in Flores.
- Permusyawaratan Majlis Katolik in Manado.
- Partai Katolik Indonesia Kalimantan in Kalimantan.