Page 386 - INDONESIAN ISLAMIC CULTURE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

Perti’s decision to form its own political until 1955 was its sole representative in
party, to withdraw from MIT and to turn
into the Masjumi’s Sumatra Branch
was partly due to its uneasiness with
the dominating modernists within
Masjumi. Perti wanted to develop
its own political party to fight for
the aspirations and interest of the
traditionalists in Sumatra. This step
was made so that the teachings
of traditionalist Islam could be
maintained and further develop. As
a result, there were heated conflict
between the modernists and the
traditionalists in Sumatra at the time
that affected the political choices of
the Muslims.
In terms of political thought, Perti
was a fairly flexible Islamic party and
it cooperated with nationalist and
Communist factions. Unlike the Javanese
traditionalists, who kept their distance
from the Communists and who tended to
be hostile towards them, Perti displayed
a different political behavior. During
the period of Guided Democracy, Perti
was ready to cooperate in activities
initiated by the PKI and the communists
in China and the Soviet Union. Only
Pertisent emissaries to the World Peace
Conference for Asia and the Pacific in
Beijing in October 1952. One well known
Perti leader who continued to serve
376 Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives
Another reason for the PSII departure
parliament, Haji Siradjuddin Abbas. 41
PSII
The Indonesian Islamic Union Party
(Partai Sarekat Islam Indonesia, PSII)
is actually the oldest party in Indonesia,
because it was a conversion of the
SI that was established as early as
1911. As discussed above, before
independence the SI had experienced
ups and downs resulting in a decrease
in its activities, including a declining role
of the PSII. After independence, the
PSII revived its political activities. The
PSII’s presence in national politics after
Independence is interesting especially
because Muslim leaders had agreed
that the Masjumi was to be the single
political vehicle for Muslim aspirations.
42
As Noer indicated, the emergence of
the SI was motivated by the solicitation
of Amir Syarifuddin who had been
appointed by the President to form a
new cabinet in 1947. Amir Syarifuddin
wanted to include Islamists in his
cabinet, but the Masjumi rejected his
offer. The PSII represented the Islamic
group as a political party and later
joined Amir Syarifuddin’s cabinet.
41. Noer. Partai-Partai Islam ...,p. 75.
42. Noer. Partai-Partai Islam ...,p. 76.
a resolution of the party’s national
from the Masjumi and to re-establish
itself as a party was because the PSII
leaders, especially Wondoamiseno
and Arudji Kartawinata did not get
important positions in the Masjumi
while they had been prominent figures
the periode before Independence. In
the MIAI, Wondoamiseno had even
held the position as the head of the
secretariat. In addition, PSII figures
generally disagreed with the Masjumi’s
unstable attitude in the negotions
with the Dutch in the Sjahrir Cabinet.
Before Independence, the PSII had
been non-cooperative with the Dutch
colonial government and of course,
it condemned the Masjumi’s lenient
attitude towards the Dutch demands
in the negotiations. The PSII had
seen in Minangkabau that there was
much disagreement among high-
ranking regional Masjumi members
because of the strong domination
of the modernist group, especially
Permi and the Muhammadiyah.
Considering that PSII leaders were not
proportionally included in the Masjumi
leadership, most PSII branches
encouraged the PSII central leadership
to launch its own political party. The
desire to establish a political party
was formalized on July 13, 1947 in
The building of the
conference in Banjarnegara, West Java Central Board of PKS
which was attended by 20 branches. (the Prosperous Justice
However, after leaving the Masjumi Party)
in 1947, the PSII central leadership Source: Directorate of
clarified to Muslims that it did not have History and Cultural
any conflict with the Masjumi and that Values, Ministry of
their connection with the Sjahrir Cabinet Education and Culture
was solely the party’s responsibility of the Republic of
to the state. It remained committed Indonesia.
to ensuring the sustainability of the
Indonesian state and the unity of,
especially Indonesian, Muslims. It was
disbanded in 1960 due to an acute
disagreement among its leaders. During
the formation of the Sastroamidjojo
Cabinet in 1953, the party sacked
Abikusno and replaced him with Arudji
Kartawinata - Anwar Tjokroaminoto.
However, Abikusno resisted and
established a counter PSII that was
widely supported by PSII’s South
Sumatra branch. The reason for his
dismissal was that Abikusno had not
consulted the party leadership when he
became involved in the Sastroamidjojo
Cabinet. The dual leadership of
Abikusno and Arudji-Anwar could not
be reconciled and brought about the
party’s decline, despite the fact that the
PSII had strong bases in Java, South
Sumatra, Lampung, North Sulawesi
and Aceh. In the time to come, the PSII
Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives 377