60 islam, politics and change
3.4 Frictions and Factions
After the 2004 election, when the party tripled its votes and obtained
almost seven times the number of seats it had held in Parliament, and
held three ministerial offices, the central leadership was confronted with
the impossible task of maintaining polarising trends between steadily
idealistic jt activists and increasingly pragmatic pks leaders. jt activists –
most of whom were not involved in party structures – started to demand
that the jt’s top leaders, especially the supreme leader, return to the basic
jt commitment as a dakwah movement and organisation, and thus soften
its political agenda. The tension was high when in March 2009 a group
of senior jt activists – including the pks’s 1999 presidential candidate
Didin Hafiduddin – handed a petition to the supreme leader, Hilmy
Aminuddin, demanding that he should be held accountable in terms
of the ideological, organisational as well as financial management of
the pks. They accused Hilmy of utilising the jt for the pks’s political
agendas.⁶⁹ On the other hand, the political pressures on the pks in the
national arena forced the party leadership to rely more and more on
effective decision-making mechanisms by recruiting practically minded
politicians – sometimes from outside the jt. This new pks leadership,
in return, demanded that the supreme leader focus on allocating jt
resources to support the party’s capacity to compete in an unstable
political environment. Having succeeded in winning the supreme leader’s
influence, they started to excommunicate and fire critical jt activists –
including former party vice president Syamsul Balda and party founder
Yusuf Supendi.
The polarisation between the jt and pks continues, and there is even
polarisation within the two. Inside the pks, for example, there are divi-
sions between ‘office oriented’ politicians (who focus on maintaining
party positions in political competitions) and ‘policy oriented’ politicians
(who focus on promoting Islamic policies). Furthermore, among office
pursuers there are pragmatists, who use politics to advance personal
and party interests – including collaborations with the Suharto fam-
ily, military networks and businessmen (Anis Matta, Fahri Hamzah,
Zulkieflimansyah); and reformists, who put the party’s interests in line
with democratic reforms (Hidayat Nur Wahid, Tifatul Sembiring, Sohibul
Iman). Among policy pursuers, there are moderates who do not get
involved in pragmatic politics but tolerate it (Mutamimul Ula, Untung
Wahono); and radicals who do not tolerate any pragmatic political
behaviour (Abu Ridho, Yusuf Supendi).
Interview with Didin Hafiduddin, Bogor.