MAJOR ISLAMIC PARTY WORKS TO REVAMP IMAGE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000812 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP NSC FOR E. PHU E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/07/2019 TAGS: PGOV PDEM KISL ID SUBJECT: MAJOR ISLAMIC PARTY WORKS TO REVAMP IMAGE REF: JAKARTA 709 Classified By: Pol/C Joseph L. Novak, reasons 1.4(b+d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Members of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS)--Indonesia's largest Islamic-oriented party--are concerned by what they see as the party's disappointing results in the recent legislative elections. Although the party did not do poorly (indeed it received slightly more support than in 2004),it had expected to do much better. With respect to the July presidential election, the party has thrown in its lot with President Yudhoyono's re-election effort. END SUMMARY. CONCERNED BY ELECTION RESULTS ¶2. (C) Indonesia's largest Islamic-oriented party--which commonly goes by the acronym "PKS"--is concerned about its showing in the April national legislative elections. According to projected results from the April 9 elections, PKS won approximately 8 percent support nationwide, a slight increase over its 7.5 percent share in 2004. While that represents an incremental gain, the party had very high expectations for this election, with some of its cadre predicting that it might achieve 15-20 percent of the vote. Hopes were raised, for example, by the party's victories in gubernatorial races in West Java and North Sumatra in early ¶2008. ¶3. (C) Of particular concern to PKS was its relatively poor showing in the influential Jakarta capital region, which has been one of the party's strongholds. In the April election, the party garnered a respectable 18 percent of the vote, but it came in second to President Yudhoyono's surging Partai Demokrat (PD). The most recent figure was just half of the 35 percent of the vote it received in 2004 when it shocked other parties by attaining plurality support in the region. INTRA-PARTY FRICTION ¶4. (C) The electoral returns have helped renew a long-running intra-PKS debate. PKS Senior MP Zulkieflimansyah (known as "Zul") acknowledged to us the internal tensions plaguing the party, asserting that it was becoming increasingly divided between "moderates" and what he characterized as "hard-liners." The moderates want the party to do a better job of branching out and selling the party to the Indonesian public writ large. The hard-liners, however, still hold out hope to create an Islamic state and want the party to focus on steps toward that. ¶5. (C) The party's reformers tend to be Western-educated technocrat types, who advocate change and innovation. As long as there is tension between the two groups, Zul added, the party would likely never receive more than ten percent of the popular vote. Zul--who considers himself a moderate--maintains that the majority of PKS is now committed to change and sees this transformation into "a mainstream party" as inevitable. ¶6. (C) Zul commented that the PKS moderates are picking up even more traction in the debate due to the April electoral returns. The moderates are asserting that the party was positioned too far to the right during the recent election and lost touch with the average Indonesian voter. According to Zul's narrative, recent PKS actions have been seen as more fundamentalist than reformist. In particular, PKS support for the controversial anti-pornography law (which civil lbertarians see as anti-individual rights) and other aspects of the party's platform pushed the party away from the center (which is where Yudhoyono's Partai Demokrat won the election). Other PKS contacts assert that the party should have focused more on anti-corruption as an issue (a push which helped President Yudhoyono's PD party). ¶7. (C) One issue that Zul did not focus on was polygamy. Some of PKS's leaders were included in a recently NGO-published "polygamy" list, including Zul. Many Indonesian women strongly oppose polygamy and PKS leaders' associations with the practice have hurt the party. The party has tried to tout a pro-woman agenda, but according to former PKS DPR member Nursanita Nasution--who recently lost her bid for re-election--no female PKS candidates won seats in the recent legislative elections. WORKING WITH PRESIDENT YUDHOYONO FOR NOW JAKARTA 00000812 002 OF 002 ¶8. (C) Ahead of the July presidential election, PKS has endorsed President Yudhoyono's re-election effort. Although he probably will not be chosen, PKS has nominated party leader Hidayat Nur Wahid as a potential vice-presidential running mate. At this point, PKS is clearly focusing on receiving choice Cabinet positions if--as expected--the President wins re-election. Over all, although it did not do as well as it wanted in the April elections, PKS retains sizable influence as the country's largest Muslim party and due to the fact that it basically maintained its core support when other Islamic-oriented parties experienced a sharp decline (see reftels). HUME