Herbert Feith – Indonesia election of 1955

THE INDONESIAN ELECTIONS

OF 1955

HERBERT FEITH

INTERIM IU!PORTS SElJES
MODERN INDONESIA PJ.DJECT

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THE INDONESIAN ELECTIONS

OF 1955

Herbert Feith

INTERIM REPORTS SER IES
Modern Indonesia Project
Southeast Asia Program
Cornell University
1 thaca, New York
1957

Second Printing 1971

1

PREFACE

AMong tbe moat i.portant

events in recent Indonesian

bistory have been the elections held in the autumn at 1955. They
bave ' beeD Laportant not only because of their more accurate measure_
~ent
of party strength and tbeir endowment of parliament with a
more representative quality.

polt~ca

To tbe sOCial scientist desirous of

knowing more about the nature of post_revolutionary Indonesian
society they provide a mountain at source materials . However,
theae data are susceptible to fruitful analysis only where the
80clal ' Belentist has ratber special qualifications. By virtue of
a co~erabl
prevlo~
residence in and knowledge at Indonesia, a
full comaand of the Indonesian language, and a training in political 8c~en
Herbert Feith i8 well qualified to undertake this
etudy. His stay in Indonesia was optimally suited to his research;

for he was there during the elections, for three years before , and
for nine months afterwards. MoreOVer, he was able to do consider_
able travelling within tbe country Just prior to and during the
election period.

working on a
hope will be

some of Mr. Feith's provi_
interpnetations. At present he is
substantial and definitive monograph which we
and published in 1959.

Mr. Feitb is a graduate of the University of Melbourne from
wbich in 1954 he earned an M.A. (with First Class Honors) in
Political Science. Currently he holds a fellowship at Cornell
Univer.ity.
lthaca. N. Y.
June 6, liS7

George McT. xahin
Director

iii

TABLK OP OOHiilHS

page
PREFACE

I'OREI'ORD
PART I, II'rIODUCTORY
PART

n,

PART

III , CAMPAIGNING B

CAIIIPAIGHllfG A

PART IV, TBI BALLOT

PART V, ANALYSIS

1
1

21

3.

,

The .aterial on which thiB

~nteriM

Report 1s based was

co~letd

while I .... employed by the Indones ian Mintstry of Information be_
tw ecn 1951 and 1953 and between 1954 and 1956 . I wish here to ,,"xpres8 ~y
great gratitude to the Ministry for the opportu ni ties with
whi ch It provided me throughout those four years for the study of
soc i al a nd polttical problems .
J .a8 partlcul.xly fortunate in the opportunities I had to

Btudy e lections.

The Ministry made It possible for me to make

.tudi es of the Minah. ... and JOiJakarta e lections of 1951 , and in
1955 I was able t o t r avel exte nsi vely 11' Java and Sua.tra observing
prepa r ations f o r tbe national elec tions and also the c.-patin!ng,
pol11DI , a nd t be poat_elections a ltuation.
Apart tr o. pe~onal
obeervation my ~ ain

source at intor.ati on
tor this s~udy
has heen Indonesia 's very free Djakarta and regional
press. In this regard I a180 received most valuable assistance
fro~
aeahers and officers of the Central Electoral Committee, from
the Economic and SociaL Res earc h Institute of the Djakarta School
of EconOMic. and the SOciaL Research I nstitute of the Law Faculty
of , the University of Indonos i a. A number of party leaders a nd
journaliste were particularly helpful to me.
I n addition several
personal friendS living or travelling outSide the capitalat.tbe't:l!neofthe
elections were 80 good as to take one of .y questionnaires and
then 8ive ae the benefit of what they had observed. Finally I
wish to record my gratitude to the Cornell Madorn Indonesia Projec t
which baa supported me financially i n t he period since ay r etu rn
froe Indonesia t o Austr a l ia, t.hus enabling ae to analyze the
.at.erial I had collected a nd writ.e this present.ation of i t .
In this short monograph, whi c h will be f ollowed by a more
co.prehenaive st.udy, a number of problems of met.hod have been

evaded . My concern has been t o state a thesis rather than to doouaent it . Thus I have frequently not adduced eVide nce whero to do
a o would bave invo l ved a diSCUSSio n of details and o f the reliabil_
ity of particular sources of intoraation .
Melbo urne, Australia
Maroh 1957

Her bert Feith

PART 1
INTRODUCTORY
Tbe Indonesian elect i o ns of
strikin,ly
the cou ntry'

and December 1955 are
in democ r a c y . They were
, preceded by 1 i ttle in the
Electio ns for the pre-war
held on the basis of an e x tremely
had

next to no democratic e xperience.
Yet the suffrage was accorded Universally to all persons over 19
year. of a,e and al l other. who had attained adulthood through
.arria,s . . In tbe absence of establisbed electoral machinery t be
oreaniz&tion of the poll beallllle the Jo int resp ons ibUtty of the
rsrular civil administratio n and multi-party cOlllllli ttees. B.a.llo ting
...ae entrus t ed t o multi- party e~
ites
at the village a nd l o ...er_
than- village leve l s, often eonS i a ti ng in part of Illiterates.

0'

••

Long_a",aited and frequently pos tp o ned , tbese e l ee ti ons were
prepared f or by one government and c arried througb by a nother o f
very different pol1 tical colour which had only just cOllie i nt o
oftice. The po11t1cal stakes were high, yet no cabinet or party
cou ld predict tbeir outcome with even a mOderate degr ee of accuracy .

Socially too lIIucb was unpredi c table , As Roeslan Abdulgani s aid
o n the eve of the electionjJ , "It is necessary for th e soc ial pyra_
mid t o be cut tbrough vertie ally .... Tbe effects (of this) c annot
be t oreseen , but whatever tho.e effe ets might be tb e risks mus t be
t a ken." ( 1)
At the same tillle the ele