Indonesian Democratic Party

The Indonesian Democratic Party (Indonesian: Partai Demokrasi Indonesia, PDI) was a political party in Indonesia which existed from 1973 to 2003. It was one of two legal political parties in Indonesia during the New Order regime of President Suharto, the other being the United Development Party. It was founded as a government-imposed merger of several nationalist and Christian parties.

Ten political parties participated in the 1971 legislative elections, a number that President Suharto considered to be too much. Suharto wished that political parties be reduced to just two or three and that the parties should be grouped based on their programs. The electoral system itself already limits the electoral field by eliminating independent candidates and requiring that each party has at least 20 percent of seats in the DPR.

The basis for the merger that would result in the birth of PDI was a coalition of the five Nationalist and non-Islamic Parties in the People's Representative Council (DPR) called the Democracy Development Faction. This faction consisted of the Indonesian National Party (PNI), the League of Supporters of Indonesian Independence (IPKI), Murba Party (Partai Murba), the Indonesian Christian Party (Parkindo), Catholic Party (Partai Katolik).

On 10 January 1973, as part of Suharto's program to reduce political parties, these five parties were merged to form PDI.

The PNI, the largest of the PDI's five parties, and the legatee of Sukarno, had its base in East and Central Java. IPKI had been strongly anti-PKI in the Old Order in contrast to the once-leftist Partai Murba. Even more heterogeneous than the United Development Party (PPP), the PDI, with no common ideological link other than the commitment to the Pancasila as its sole principle, was faction-ridden and riven with personality disputes.

This factionalism was displayed in the 1977 Indonesian legislative election, the first Legislative Elections that PDI participated in. The Party was unable to show a united front and would come third and last in the 1977 legislative election.

The 1977 legislative election would also see a tense political battle between Golkar and PPP. The government became worried that with PDI struggling to function as a party, Indonesian society would be polarized into a secular camp (Golkar) and an Islamic camp (PPP). To counter this, the Government decided to actively intervene into PDI's affairs and make it into a 3rd party to prevent the polarization that it feared.

Measures were taken by the government to keep PDI going as a party which at one time involved the Minister of Home Affairs to arrange PDI's Congresses for them. Efforts were also made to encourage PDI, such as refurbishing the tomb of the late President Sukarno in 1978 and officially recognizing him as the "Hero of Independence Proclamation". This recognition of Sukarno was a change from the earlier New Order policy of playing down his achievements or ignoring him altogether.