NasDem Party

The NasDem Party (Indonesian: Partai NasDem) is a political party in Indonesia. It is partly funded by media baron Surya Paloh who founded the similarly named organization, National Democrats (Indonesian: Nasional Demokrat). Despite this, and logo similarity, Nasional Demokrat has insisted that it is not linked with the party.^[5][6][7] On 17 May 2023, the Secretary General of the NasDem Party, Johnny G. Plate was named a suspect in the corruption case of the 4G BTS Infrastructure project in frontier, remote and disadvantaged areas which was estimated to result in state losses of more than IDR 8 trillion.^[8]

NasDem Party Partai NasDem
General Chairman	Surya Paloh
Secretary-General	Hermawi Taslim (acting)
DPR group leader	Ahmad Ali
Founded	1 February 2011; 13 years ago (1 February 2011)
Split from	Golkar
Headquarters	Jakarta
Student wing	Liga Mahasiswa NasDem (NasDem Student League)
Youth wing	Garda Pemuda NasDem (NasDem Youth Guard)
Women's wing	Garnita Malahayati (Malahayati Women's Guard)
Membership (2022)	395,949[1]
Ideology	Pancasila Indonesian nationalism[2] Secularism[2] Social liberalism
National affiliation	Onward Indonesia Coalition Advanced Indonesia Coalition
International affiliation	Progressive Alliance[3]
Regional affiliation	Network of Social Democracy in Asia[4]
Slogan	Gerakan Perubahan (Movement for Change)
Anthem	Mars Partai Nasdem
Ballot number	5
DPR seats	59 / 575
DPRD I seats	186 / 2,232
DPRD II seats	1,628 / 17,340
Website
nasdem.id
Politics of Indonesia Political parties Elections

History

The Party has its origins in a now-dormant youth-focused NGO called Nasional Demokrat (National Democrats) founded by Surya Paloh, who owns the media conglomerate Media Group, and Hamengkubuwono X, the sultan of Yogyakarta in 2010. It received extensive coverage on media owned by Surya Paloh. In 2011, Hamengkubuwono left the organization, unhappy with its transformation into a political party. Less than a month later, Surya Paloh formed the NasDem Party, and appointed former National Mandate Party (PAN) politician Patrice Rio Capella as its first chairman.^{[citation needed]}

The party was officially declared on 26 July 2011, although it had previously registered to the Ministry of Law and Human Rights in March. At the party's first convention in January 2013, Surya Paloh was appointed party chairman for the 2013 - 2018 term. The conference also conferred on him full authority to determine party strategy and policies and to win the 2014 election. Later the same month, one of the other founders and financial backers, media tycoon Hary Tanoesoedibjo, founder of the huge Media Nusantara Citra media group, suddenly left the party in protest at Surya Paloh's appointment and defected to the People's Conscience Party, led by former general Wiranto. Hary subsequently became that party's vice-presidential candidate. In late 2013 the NasDem Party applied to contest the 2014 elections, and on 7 January 2014 the General Elections Commission (KPU) announced that the NasDem was the only new party that met all the requirements. It competed along with 12 other national parties.^[9][10]

Before founding the party, Surya Paloh had been a senior member of the Golkar Party for 40 years and rose to become chairman of the party's advisory council. He contested the presidential nomination at the 2004 Golkar convention, but lost. In 2009, Golkar nominated Jusuf Kalla as its candidate. However, Surya Paloh has "repeatedly denied" that he formed the NasDem Party to allow him to run for the presidency again.^[11] During the 2014 election campaign, the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission criticized Surya Paloh-owned news network MetroTV for its excessive coverage of the party.^[12]

In June 2021, the party again came under fire from public when one of its cadre, parliament speaker of Tolikara Regency, Papua was allegedly supplying money and arms to armed groups under Free Papua Movement. The party denied such allegations and said that if proven, they are ready to fire the accused from the party.^[13][14]

Political identities

Ideology

The 2008 Law on Political Parties states that political parties are allowed to include specific characteristics that reflect their political aspirations, as long as they do not contradict Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution.^[15] As per Articles 3 and 4 in its constitution and bylaws (AD/ART), NasDem is founded on Pancasila and identifies itself as the "Movement for the Restoration of Indonesia". Outsider views on the party's political orientation vary. Academic and domestic observers classified NasDem as a nationalist party,^[16] while their international counterparts described it as a secular-nationalist party.^[17]

Party platform

According to its articles of association (AD/ART), the party aims to establish a democratic, just, and sovereign society. The party's foundation lies in nationalism with three objectives: achieving national independence, economic sovereignty, and cultural dignity.^[18] According to the party website, the party's policies are to:^[19]

• Fulfill the needs of the people
• Reject democracy that merely complicates governance without bringing about general prosperity and that only leads to power routinely changing hands without producing quality leaders that set an example.
• Build a mature democracy
• Build a democracy based on strong people who are called on to bring about a bright future
• Restore the ideals of the Indonesian Republic.
• Support the constitutional mandate to build a prosperous nation based on the principles of economic democracy, a law-based state that holds human rights in high regard, and a nation that recognizes diversity
• Bring about a nation that is just, prosperous and sovereign through a Movement for Change to Restore Indonesia.

Cadre training

Unlike most political parties in Indonesia which relied on informal training programs for the cadre specialized education and training, the NasDem Party owned its own formalized, advanced and specialized cadre education and training facility named Akademi Bela Negara Nasional Demokrat (English: National Defense Academy of National Democrats), or colloquially called ABN NasDem. ABN NasDem is a political corporate university, and it was the only kind in Indonesia.^[20] ABN NasDem institution and courses modeled after Indonesia primary national leadership education and training facility, National Resilience Institute (Indonesian: Lembaga Ketahanan Nasional).^[21] The academy founded by Surya Paloh and IGK Manila. The academy was inaugurated by Joko Widodo on 16 July 2017.^[22] The training materials were condensed into 48 credits for 4 months. It does not issue any degree.^[22]

Following NasDem move, several Indonesian parties formalized their political cadre training programs into functioning political corporate university. As in 2023, several political corporate universities have been established: PDIP Party School (PDIP), Gerindra Party Cadre School (Gerindra), Demokrat Academy (Demokrat), and Golkar Institute (Golkar).^[23]

Election results

Legislative election results

Election	Ballot number	Total seats won	Total votes	Share of votes	Outcome of election	Party leader
2014	1	35 / 560	8,402,812	6.72%[24]	35 seats, Governing coalition	Surya Paloh
2019	5	59 / 575	12,661,792	9.05%[25]	23 seats, Governing coalition	Surya Paloh
2024	5	69 / 580	14,660,328	9.66%	10 seats, Governing coalition[26]	Surya Paloh

Presidential election results

Election	Ballot number	Candidate	Running mate	1st round (total votes)	Share of votes	Outcome	2nd round (total votes)	Share of votes	Outcome
2014	2	Joko Widodo[27]	Jusuf Kalla	70,997,833	53.15%	Elected
2019	1	Joko Widodo	Ma'ruf Amin	85,607,362	55.50%	Elected
2024	1	Anies Baswedan	Muhaimin Iskandar	40,971,906	24.95%	Lost

Note: Bold text suggests the party's member

References

1. "Info Pemilu - Partai Nasdem". Komisi Pemilihan Umum RI. 22 December 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
2. Bulkin 2013.
3. "Parties & Organisations". Progressive Alliance. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
4. "About". SocDemAsia.com.
5. "TV mogul funds NasDem Party: NasDem". The Jakarta Post. 25 July 2011. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
6. "Nasdem Party declared, set to join 2014 polls". The Jakarta Post. 27 July 2011.
7. "National Democrat civil organization is not Nasdem Party". The Jakarta Post. 8 July 2011. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
8. "BREAKING: AGO names NasDem minister Johnny Plate suspect in BTS graft case - Politics".
9. Fionna, Ulla; Arifianto, Alexander (10 March 2014). "Getting to Know the Contestants of the 2014 Indonesian Parliamentary Elections" (PDF). ISEAS Perspective (14). ISSN 2335-6677. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 April 2015.
10. "Sejarah Partai NasDem (History of the Nasdem Party)". Partai NasDem (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 2017-09-03. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
11. "Newly established Nasdem aims high in general election". The Jakarta Post. 18 March 2014.
12. "KPI says Metro TV gives Nasdem too much airtime". The Jakarta Post. 18 March 2014.
13. BeritaSatu.com. "Kader Nasdem Diduga Terkait Pemasok Senjata KKB, Ahmad Ali: Jika Terbukti, Kami Pecat". beritasatu.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2021-06-18.
14. "Diduga Ada Transfer Rp 600 Juta ke KKB Papua dari Pemda Puncak". KOMPAS.tv (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2021-06-18.
15. Saifulloh 2016, pp. 178: "Akan tetapi, dalam Undang-Undang No.2 Tahun 2008 Tentang Partai Politik kembali dipertegas bahwa asas dan ciri partai politik merupakan penjabaran dari Pancasila dan UUD 1945." Translation: In Law No. 2 of 2008 on Political Parties, it is emphasized that the principles and characteristics of political parties derive from Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution.
16. Lee & Paath 2019: "So-called nationalist parties such as the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Prabowo Subianto's political machine the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), Golkar Party, National Democratic Party (NasDem) and the Democratic Party are still the dominant forces in Indonesian politics."
17. Bulkin 2013: "Thanks to its organizational strength and Paloh's wealth, this brand-new secular-nationalist party had no difficulty qualifying for the 2014 elections..."
18. Yuniarto 2021.
19. "Visi Dan Misi (Vision and Mission)". Partai NasDem (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 2017-10-02. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
20. Hafiez, Fachri Audhia (2018-04-12). "Partai Lain Diharapkan Menyontoh ABN NasDem". medcom.id (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2021-06-01.
21. Steven (2017-01-24). "Nasdem Seleksi 16 Kader Masuk Akademi Bela Negara". Lentera Swara Lampung (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2021-06-01.
22. Jordan, Ray (2017-07-16). "Jokowi Hadiri Peresmian Akademi Bela Negara Partai Nasdem". detiknews (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2021-06-01.
23. Andryanto, S. Dian (2023-06-14). "6 Sekolah atau Akademi Partai, Termasuk Sekolah Partai PDIP dan Akademi Bela Negara NasDem". Tempo. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
24. "KPU sahkan hasil pemilu, PDIP nomor satu" (in Indonesian). BBC. 10 May 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
25. Zunita Putri (21 May 2019). "KPU Tetapkan Hasil Pileg 2019: PDIP Juara, Disusul Gerindra-Golkar". Detik.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 31 May 2019.
26. "Koalisi Prabowo-Gibran Kian Besar, Nasdem, PPP, dan Perindo Bergabung". Kompas. 16 August 2024.
27. "Jokowi dan JK daftar ke KPU" (in Indonesian). BBC. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2018.

Sources

• Bulkin, Nadia (2013-10-24). "Indonesia's Political Parties". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
• Lee, Christian; Paath, Carlos K. Y. (2019-05-31). "How Different Are Political Parties in Indonesia From One Another?". Jakarta Globe. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
• Saifulloh, Putra Perdana Ahmad (December 2016). "Kewajiban Partai Politik Berideologi Pancasila Ditinjau dari Prinsip-Prinsip Negara Hukum Indonesia" [The obligation of political parties to embrace the ideology of Pancasila: examined from the principles of the rule of law in Indonesia]. Pandecta Research Law Journal (in Indonesian). 11 (2). doi:10.15294/pandecta.v11i2.9276 (inactive 2024-02-16).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of February 2024 (link)
• Yuniarto, Topan (2021-12-15). "Partai NasDem" [NasDem Party]. Kompas (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-12-02.

External links

• Official website (in Indonesian)