Indonesian Democratic Party
Indonesian political party (1973–2003)
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.
Origins
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.
Factions
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.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Indonesian Democratic Party” is indonesian political party (1973–2003). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Indonesian, Democratic and Party, not as a finished interpretation.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2084109. VIAF identifies the subject as 135592293. The Library of Congress control number is n80113875. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1973, 2003 and 1971.
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