Page 192 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

THE NEW FACE OF INDONESIAN PARLIAMENT
(1959-1966)

DISSOLUTION OF THE MASYUMI PARTY,

PSI, AND THE FREEZING OF THE MURBA

PARTY

In his independence day speech on 17 August 1954, President Soekarno had
reminded that the permission for the establishment of multi-party and the

implementation of the 1955 General Election were hoped not to cause divisions

between elements of the nation.

ACCORDING to the political conception of President Soekarno, a
political party should act as a tool to achieve the goals of the National
Revolution. When it was unsuccessful during the Liberal Parliamentary
Democracy period, this goal prompted President Soekarno to create
a policy for the implementation of the 1959 Guided Democracy. The
dissolution of the Masyumi Party and PSI and the freezing of the Murba
Party could be seen from this perspective, namely the inconsistency
between the policies of Soekarno’s political party conception vis-à-
vis the desire or lust for power of the founders of political parties in a
multiparty system.

So, Soekarno indeed did not really like the multi-party condition. As he
once stated, there was a desire to bury political parties. The desire to
bury political parties was caused by the multi-party system which made
the life of the nation and the state increasingly lose their orientation to
continue the unfinished development of the revolution. The activities of
the leaders of the political parties were getting further and further away
from the implementation of the National Revolution.

The cause of the disbandment of the Masyumi Party and PSI could be
traced to the long conflict between the two parties (Masyumi vs. PKI)
over the revival of the PKI after the 1948 Madiun Affair led by the PKI and
the FDR (People’s Democratic Front). The PKI started to be able to influ-
ence various policies of President Soekarno and be accommodated in
the government system.

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