People's Representative Council when Indonesia became a unitary state in 1950.[2]
Pre-independence bodies
The Japanese invaded Indonesia in 1942. By 1943 the tide had turned against them, and in order to encourage support for the war effort, the Japanese appointed Indonesian advisors (Japanese: 參預, romanized: sanyo) to the administration and appointed nationalist leader Sukarno leader of a new Central Advisory Board (Japanese: 中央參議會, romanized: Chūō Sangi-kai) in Jakarta.[3] In March 1945, the Japanese established the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (Indonesian: Badan Penyelidik Usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan) or BPUPK, chaired by Radjiman Wediodiningrat, with Sukarno, Hatta and Thamrin among its members. This body drew up a constitution for an independent Indonesia over several weeks of meetings. At a session of the Committee on 1 June 1945, Sukarno laid down the principles of Pancasila, which would become the Indonesian national ideology.[4][5]
Second World War.[5] The PPKI also named Sukarno as president and Hatta vice-president.[7] The following day it appointed 12 government ministers and decreed that Indonesia was to be divided into eight provinces.[8]
On 29 August, Sukarno dissolved the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence and established the Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP). Sukarno and Hatta appointed 135 members, including the membership of the PPKI to this new body. It included people representing areas outside Java, Islam, women and young people.[9][10]
People's Representative Council from the president to the KNIP, making the government more parliamentary in nature. The day-to-day tasks of the KNIP would be carried out by a Working Committee. On 30 October, a decree allowed the establishment of political parties. Then on 11 November, Sukarno accepted the fact that ministers would now be responsible to parliament, rather than to him. Three days later, Sutan Syahrir became Indonesia's first prime minister.[11][12][13]
In July 1946, the KNIP was reorganized by government decree. It now had 200 members. Of these, 110 were elected, 60 represented organizations and 30 were nominated by the president. Meanwhile, hopes that national elections would be held in January 1946 as planned began to fade.
At the end of 1946, there was "manipulation" of the KNIP membership when it appeared likely the body would reject the Linggadjati Agreement between the Dutch and the Indonesian republicans. In order to avoid this rejection, Sukarno more than doubled the size of the KNIP to 514 members. The decision to expand the KNIP was taken in late 1946, but became effective only in March 1947. The number of left-wing members increased sharply as they wanted the Dutch military action to be ended as quickly as possible. These changes severely damaged that the KNIP's image as representing public opinion.[12][14][15]
Because of the ongoing armed struggle against the Dutch, it was not possible for the entire KNIP to meet regularly. Therefore, the KNIP acted as the upper house, the People's Consultative Assembly in the constitution, meeting only infrequently to discuss fundamental and pressing national issues, while the Working Committee continued to act as the day-to-day parliament.[16]
Membership
After the Linggadjati Agreement was signed between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch in November 1946, the left-wing parties, who supported the agreement, formed the Left Wing grouping, while parties opposing it formed the Republican Fortress. The proportion of seats held by the Left Wing increased dramatically following President Sukarno's appointments. The original and revised membership was as follows:[15][17]
Cribb, Robert (2001). "Parlemen Indonesia 1945-1959 (Indonesian Parliaments 1945-1959)". In Yayasan API (ed.). Panduan Parlemen Indonesia (Indonesian Parliamentary Guide) (in Indonesian). Yayasan API. pp. 97–113.
Rose, Saul (1959). Socialism in Southern Asia. London: Oxford University Press.
Simanjuntak, M. C. (2003). Kabinet-Kabinet Republik Indonesia: Dari Awal Kemerdekaan Sampai Reformasi (Cabinets of the Republic of Indonesia: From the Start of Independence to the Reform Era) (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Penerbit Djambatan.