Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T04:18:58.829Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 7 - The MPR Elects a President

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2015

Get access

Summary

In post-Soeharto Indonesia, the President is still the most important figure in the political system. This chapter focuses on the election of the new President following the 1999 general election. Old and new leaders were competing for the highest position in the land and the contest was keenly observed by the political public. The process was full of intrigues and the situation was tense as Megawati's supporters expected her to be elected as President — her party, the PDI-P, had after all received the largest number of votes in the general election. The eventual election of Abdurrahman Wahid as President was a surprise but it illustrated the increasing importance of Islam. Although Islam is not the dominant force in Indonesian politics today, it has grown in significance over the years.

The Battle and the War

Casual Indonesian observers often wrongly regard the general election as the only battle fought by political parties in order to form the government. It might be assumed that the party with the largest number of votes (in this case Partai Demokrasi Indonesia– Perjuangan or PDI-P, albeit only 33.7 per cent to the total votes) should form the government, and the party leader should be the President. This would have happened if Indonesia was not under the 1945 Constitution. Under the first amended 1945 Constitution, a party which won the parliamentary election would not necessarily win the MPR (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat or People's Consultative Assembly) election. The President is elected by the MPR, not by the people directly. The leader of the party which obtained the largest votes in the MPR election, not the general election, would become the President.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
Print publication year: 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×