Golkar
The Party of Functional Groups, often known by its abbreviation Golkar, is a centre to centre-right big tent secular-nationalist political party in Indonesia. Founded in 1964 as the Joint Secretariat of Functional Groups, it is the oldest extant political party in Indonesia. It first participated in national elections in 1971 as Functional Groups. Since 2009, it has been the second-largest party in the House of Representatives, having won 102 seats in the latest election.
Golkar served as the ruling political organisation during the New Order era under Suharto from 1971 to 1999, when it was formally reconstituted as a political party to participate in elections. Throughout this period, it held far-right political positions, maintained a de facto one-party state and supported Suharto's authoritarian rule. Following the Fall of Suharto in 1998, the party's dominance weakened, and its share of votes declined in the subsequent legislative election. Golkar then joined the governing coalitions of Presidents Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Sukarnoputri.
The party regained its position as the largest party in the DPR after winning the 2004 legislative election, and its member Jusuf Kalla was elected as vice president. In 2009, Golkar nominated Kalla for president, but he was defeated by the incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. When Joko Widodo was elected president in 2014, Golkar initially joined the opposing coalition led by Prabowo Subianto, but in 2016, switched its allegiance to the Jokowi administration.
In 2024, Golkar finished second in the legislative election and gained 102 seats, the party's best performance following a trend of declining seats since 2009. The party also remains in government as part of the governing Advanced Indonesia Coalition. For 53 years, Golkar has continued to be in government, whether it be as the sole ruling party, or as a junior coalition partner.
History
Origins
In 1959, President Sukarno introduced his concept of Guided Democracy, in which so-called functional groups would play a role in government in place of political parties. The Indonesian National Armed Forces supported its creation because it believed these groups would balance the growing strength of the Communist Party of Indonesia. In 1960, Sukarno awarded sectoral groups such as teachers, the Armed Forces and the Indonesian National Police, workers and artists seats in the Mutual Cooperation House of Representatives. As some of the members of these functional groups were linked to political parties, this gave political influence to the National Armed Forces and by extension the National Police. The TNI then established an anti-PKI trade union, the Central Organization of Indonesian Workers, or Soksi, and used this as the core of an Armed Forces-led Joint Secretariat of Functional Groups, or Sekber Golkar, which was officially established on 20 October 1964. By 1968 there were almost 250 organisations under the Sekber umbrella. On 22 November 1969 they were organized into seven main organizations, or Kino, namely Soksi, Kosgoro, MKGR, Gerakan Karya Rakyat, Ormas Hankam, Professi, and Gerakan Pembangunan. The Joint Secretariat was one of those organisations moblized against the PKI in the aftermath of the failure of the 30 September Movement in 1965.Suharto and Golkar
In March 1968, General Suharto was officially elected by the People's Consultative Assembly as Indonesia's second president. Because of his military background, Suharto was not affiliated with any political parties. Suharto had never expressed much interest in party politics. However, if he were to be elected for a second term as president, he needed to align himself with a political party. Originally, Suharto had shown interest in aligning with the Indonesian National Party, the party of his predecessor, Sukarno. But in seeking to distance himself from the old regime, Suharto settled on Golkar.Suharto then ordered his closest associate, Ali Murtopo, to transform Golkar and turn it into an electoral machine. Under Murtopo, and with Suharto's supervision, Golkar was turned from a federation of NGOs into a political party. Under Suharto, Golkar continued to portray itself as a non-ideological entity, without favoritism or political agendas. It promised to focus on "economic development" and "stability" rather than a specific ideological goal. Golkar also began identifying itself with the government, encouraging civil servants to vote for it as a sign of loyalty to the government.
Murtopo claimed that workers were a functional group, which by rights ought to be subsumed under Golkar: "thus all unions were united into a single body answerable to the state. The population was no longer there to be mobilised by political parties, rather, the people were the 'floating mass', or the 'ignorant mass', who needed firm guidance so they would not be lured into politics. In order to "Golkar-ize" the nation, Murtopo sometimes used the military and gangs of young thugs to eliminate political competition.
Golkar was declared on 4 February 1970, to participate in the 1971 legislative elections. Suharto's alignment with Golkar paid dividends when Golkar won 62% of the votes and an overwhelming majority in the People's Representative Council. The members of the DPR also doubled as members of the MPR, and thus, Suharto was easily re-elected to a second term as president in March 1973.
The 1971 legislative election was a success for Golkar and Suharto. Strengthened by his re-election, Suharto quickly began tightening his grip on Golkar. Control was increased in October 1973 with the implementation of a less democratic and more centralized system headed by a chairman. In October 1978, after his re-election to a 3rd term, Suharto further consolidated his control of Golkar by being elected chairman of the executive board, a position whose authority supersedes even the party chairman. From this position, Suharto had the supreme power in Golkar while leaving the day-to-day running of Golkar to the chairman.
Aside from being dominated by Suharto, Golkar was also an organization dominated by the National Armed Forces. Out of the six people that served as Golkar chairmen during the New Order, five had a military background as officers. It was only in the last years of Suharto's rule that Harmoko, a civilian, was elected as Golkar chairman.
Electoral dominance in the New Order
Golkar continued to dominate Indonesian politics well beyond the 1971 legislative elections. In subsequent New Order legislative elections, Golkar won 62%, 64%, 73%, 68%, and 74%. Golkar's dominance was so absolute that for most of the Suharto era, Indonesia was effectively a one-party state. Suharto was able to pass bills without any meaningful opposition, and was able to form a Cabinet which consisted only of Golkar appointees.After 1973, Suharto banned all political parties except for the Indonesian Democratic Party and the United Development Party. These two parties were nominally permitted to contest the reign of Golkar. In practice, however, Golkar permitted only a semblance of competition. Elections were "exercises in controlled aggression", and were ritualized performances of "choice", in which local authorities were to obey directives about Golkar's electoral results in their area. A system of rewards, punishments, and violence meted out by thugs helped to guarantee cooperation across the archipelago, and the perpetual reelection of Golkar.
After the 1977 and 1997 legislative elections, there were claims of electoral fraud launched by the party, who together with Golkar were the only legal political parties after 1973. There were also claims of Golkar members intimidating the electorate to vote for Golkar.
After Suharto: ''Reformasi'' and beyond
With the Fall of Suharto in May 1998, Golkar quickly sought to adapt and reform itself. In July 1998, a Special National Congress was held to elect the next chairman of Golkar. The congress was dogged by protests by both pro-Suharto and anti-Suharto groups. Suharto himself did not come to the congress. In the contest that followed, Akbar Tandjung emerged as the new chairman of Golkar after beating Army General Edi Sudrajat. It was the first time that a Golkar chairman was elected democratically rather than appointed by the chairman of the executive board. Under Akbar, the executive board was abolished and replaced by an advisory board which had considerably less authority. Edi Sudrajat, feeling that Golkar was insufficiently cooperative with reform movements, left the party and formed the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party. In the same time, elements of the Pancasila Youth that previously supported Golkar formed the Patriot Party led by Yapto Soerjosoemarno.In 1999, Golkar lost its first democratic legislative election to Megawati Sukarnoputri's PDI-P. Golkar won 20% of the votes and was the runner-up in the legislative elections. Despite losing these elections Golkar was still able to secure Tanjung's election as Head of the DPR. October 1999 would see the MPR assemble for its General Session during which a president and a vice president would be elected. It was widely expected that Golkar would support Jusuf Habibie in his bid for a full term as president. Before Habibie could be nominated, however, he was required to deliver an accountability speech. Carried over from Suharto, this speech was a report delivered by the President to the MPR at the end of his term that showed how he had adhered to the Broad Lines of State Policy as drafted by the MPR. Under the Constitution, the MPR was responsible for making policies while the president was responsible for implementing them. The MPR rejected Habibie's accountability speech, and it was revealed that some Golkar members had voted against ratifying the speech. Habibie then withdrew his candidacy.
Although PDI-P had won the legislative elections, Golkar joined forces with the Central Axis, a political coalition put together by MPR Chairman Amien Rais, to nominate and successfully secure the election of Abdurrahman Wahid as president. Golkar, however, was unable to stop the election of Megawati as vice president.
Golkar was rewarded for its support of Wahid by having its members appointed to ministerial positions in Wahid's Cabinet. Much like those who had supported Wahid, Golkar would grow disillusioned with Wahid. In April 2000, Jusuf Kalla, a Golkar member who held position as Minister of Industries and Trade was sacked from his position. When Golkar inquired as to why this was done, Wahid alleged it was because of corruption. In July 2001, Golkar, along with its Central Axis allies, held an MPR Special Session to replace President Wahid with Megawati.
In 2002, members who were dissatisfied with Golkar's abandonment of former president Suharto including former minister Hartono and Suharto's eldest daughter Tutut Soeharto left Golkar and formed the Concern for the Nation Functional Party.
By 2004, the reformist sentiments that had led PDI-P to victory in the 1999 legislative elections had died down. Many Indonesians were disappointed with what Reformasi had achieved thus far and were also disillusioned with Megawati's presidency, enabling Golkar to emerge victorious in the 2004 legislative elections with 21% of the votes.
Unlike the other political parties who had one person as their presidential candidate from the start, Golkar had five. In April 2004, Golkar held a national convention to decide who would become Golkar's candidate for president. These five were Akbar Tanjung, General Wiranto, Lieutenant-General Prabowo, Aburizal Bakrie, and Surya Paloh. Akbar won the first round of elections but Wiranto emerged as the winner in the second round. Wiranto chose Solahuddin Wahid as his running mate.
The 2004 Presidential Election was held on 5 July. The first round was won by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla who faced Megawati and Hasyim Muzadi in the September 2004 run-off. Wiranto/Wahid came second and there were allegations of disunity within the party with Akbar not fully supporting Wiranto after losing the nomination.
In August 2004 Golkar formed, with PDI-P, PPP, Reform Star Party and Prosperous Peace Party, a national coalition to back Megawati. Further infighting would hamper Golkar in its bid to back Megawati. Fahmi Idris led a group of Golkar members in defecting and threw their support behind Yudhoyono and Kalla. At the Presidential Run-Off in September 2004, Yudhoyono emerged victorious over Megawati to become Indonesia's 6th president. Yusuf Kalla, who had gone his own way back in April 2004, became vice president.