Adhyasta Dirgantara, Jakarta – Leaders of the 1945 Indonesian Christian Party (Parkindo 1945) visited the Justice and Human Rights Ministry (Kemenkumham) today to protest the change of their party's name into the Indonesian Student Party.
Parkindo 1945 believes that the status of the Indonesian Student Party is unclear.
"We think that the Indonesian Student Party is unclear, yeah. It's legally flawed. Some say it's a ghost. We don’t' know. How could this have happened?", asked Parkindo 1945's lawyer Finsensius Mendrofa at the Justice Ministry building in South Jakarta on Monday May 23.
Mendrofa said that Parkindo 1945's name was changed to the Indonesian Student Party suddenly and without any prior notification.
Mendrofa then talked about Parkindo's statutes and rules of association (AD/ART). According to Mendrofa, under the AD/ART there are two things which are not allowed to be changed, namely the party's preamble and principles.
"In the preamble, a historical process was behind the establishment of the party, the values and spirit of philosophy. This Indonesian Student Party has of course no relationship to this, there's no philosophical history between the Indonesian Christian Party and the Indonesian Student Party registered with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights", he said.
Mendrofa asserted that the Student Party has no similarity with Parkindo 1945. In terms of its principles, Parkindo 1945 has two principles, the principle of the state ideology of Pancasila and the principle of the old and new testament of the Bible.
"The question is, does the Indonesian Student Party indeed have the Bible as its principle. Was the mandate from the Indonesian Christian Party's founding fathers to change and become the Indonesian Student Party", asked Mendrofa.
Mendrofa asserts that the Indonesian Student Party has a different philosophy from Parkindo 1945. One example being the religion of students – it is impossible for all students to be Christian.
"Go asks some students, are students indeed only of the Christian religion? Or no", he asked.
Mendrofa admitted to being confused about why the Indonesian Student Party membership choose to "annex" Parkindo 1945. He suggested that they instead establish a new party.
Because of this, said Mendrofa, Parkindo 1945 is asking the entire management of the Indonesian Student Party to apologise.
"Yes, we're asking for the rogue management of the Student Party to consciously apologies to the leadership of the 1945 Christian Party and withdraw, and annul [the name change] through mechanisms that are in accordance with legislation, that's what we're asking for", said Mendrofa.
The Indonesian Student Party does indeed turn out to be a rebadged version of Parkindo 1945.
This was confirmed by Justice and Human Rights Ministry Constitutional Director Baroto. "Yes, it's true (the Student Party is a modification of Parkindo 1945)", Baroto told Kompas.com on Tuesday April 26.
Nevertheless, Baroto did not explain in detail how Parkindo 1945 was able to be converted into the Indonesian Student Party.
Based on documents received by Kompas.com, the Indonesian Student Party was registered under a Justice and Human Rights Ministry document Kemenkumham Number M.HH-AH.11.04-09 on the Delivery of Data on a Political Party which is a Legal Entity.
The document was signed personally by Justice and Human Rights Minister and ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Yasonna Laoly on Thursday February 17, 2022.
There are 75 political parties in the list of registered political parties in Indonesia, although the Indonesian Student Party is listed in 69th place.
The leadership of the Indonesian Student Party is made up of General Chairperson Eko Pratama, General Secretary Mohammad Al Hafiz and Treasurer Muhammad Akmal Mauludin, along with party Tribunal Chairperson Teguh Setiawan and two Tribunal members, namely Davistha A and Rican.
Meanwhile the Indonesian Student Party's address is listed as Jalan Duren Tiga Raya, Number 19D Duren Tiga, Pancoran, South Jakarta, 12760.
- See: New Indonesian Student Party greeted with criticism, scepticism and hope. Detik News – April 23, 2022
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Namanya Diganti Jadi Partai Mahasiswa Indonesia, Parkindo 1945: Ini Cacat Hukum".]
