internal dynamics of the prosperous justice party and jamaah tarbiyah 67
an Islamic party; at the same time, other Islam-based parties from the
fsppi requested that the pks join the Islamic Party Faction. According
to Hidayat Nur Wahid, Amien Rais, not pan, was the deciding factor.
pks leaders knew Amien Rais very well, and they were confident that he
would pursue a political agenda parallel to that of the pks. Furthermore,
Amien Rais and other pan leaders also had credentials as reformists,
which was in line with the pks’s political vision. Finally, the pks’s decision
to join pan was based on democratic reasoning, as it made the Reform
Faction – with 41 seats – the fifth largest faction in the Parliament. Thus,
it had the right to receive a vice chairmanship in the legislature, defeating
the Military Faction, which held 38 seats.⁸²
The next political coalition that the pks joined was the Central Axis,
a coalition of Islam-based politicians under Amien Rais designed to
challenge the candidacy of B.J. Habibie (who was perceived as a remnant
of the Suharto regime) and Megawati (who was perceived as a secular
politician backed by Christians).⁸³ Amien Rais, against all the odds,
nominated Abdurrahman Wahid as the alternative candidate. Initially
the pks, together with another Islam-based party, the pbb, preferred to
support Habibie.⁸⁴ When eventually Habibie withdrew his candidacy, the
pks reluctantly gave its support to Abdurrahman Wahid with a qualifying
statement that he was the least bad choice.⁸⁵ Senior jt activists and former
interim pks president Untung Wahono observed that it was beyond
doubt that the pks preferred Habibie to Abdurrahman Wahid.⁸⁶
When Abdurrahman Wahid was elected as president, he offered
the pks one ministerial position in his cabinet. The pks accepted and
Damanik,Fenomena Partai Keadilan, 282–286.
Despite the widely held belief that the coalition had been initiated by Amien Rais
in order to mobilise support from Muslim politicians, closer observation revealed
the opposite. The forum was initiated by a number of senior Muslim politicians to
bring Amien Rais back into his proper habitat of Islamic politics. It was triggered
by Amien Rais’s agreement to join forces with Megawati and Abdurrahman
Wahid in furthering a reform agenda. Islamic politicians responded to this move
with anxiety, both for ideological as well as democratic reasons. Ideologically
they associated Megawati and her pdi-p with secular and Christian politics;
while democratically many perceived both Megawati and Abdurrahman Wahid
not really as reformists, because they were reluctant to support reforms such as
amending the constitution and the demilitarisation of politics. See Suharsono,
Cemerlangnya Poros Tengah(Jakarta: Perennial Press, 1999), 86–88.
Untung Wahono,Peran Politik Poros Tengah(Jakarta: Pustaka Tarbiatuna, 2003),
115.
pk Bayanat, 17 September 1998.
Wahono,Peran Politik Poros Tengah, 134.