Golkar

The Party of Functional Groups (Partai Golongan Karya), often known by its abbreviation Golkar, is a political party in Indonesia. It was founded as the Joint Secretariat of Functional Groups (Sekretariat Bersama Golongan Karya, Sekber Golkar) in 1964, and participated for the first time in national elections in 1971 as Functional Groups. Golkar was not officially a political party until 1999, when it was required to become a party in order to contest elections. Golkar was the ruling political group from 1971 to 1999, under presidents Suharto and B. J. Habibie. It subsequently joined the ruling coalitions under presidents Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Sukarnoputri, and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. When President Joko Widodo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle was elected in 2014, Golkar initially joined an opposition coalition led by former general Prabowo Subianto but in 2016 switched its allegiance to Widodo's government. In 1959, President Sukarno introduced his concept of Guided Democracy, in which so-called functional groups would play a role in government in place of political parties. The Indonesian National Armed Forces supported its creation because it believed these groups would balance the growing strength of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). In 1960, Sukarno awarded sectoral groups such as teachers, the Armed Forces and the Indonesian National Police, workers and artists seats in the Mutual Cooperation – People's Representative Council. As some of the members of these functional groups were linked to political parties, this gave political influence to the National Armed Forces. The TNI then established an anti-PKI trade union, the Central Organization of Indonesian Workers, or Soksi (Sentral Organisasi Karyawan Swadiri Indonesia), and used this as the core of an Armed Forces-led Joint Secretariat of Functional Groups, or Sekber Golkar, which was officially established on 20 October 1964. By 1968 there were almost 250 organisations under the Sekber umbrella.