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