Rallies, posters, commercials and smiling politicians have abounded over the past weeks and months. But what do the parties really stand for? This week we analyze those parties with a realistic expectation of a significant vote share and ask what their visions are. We look at two parties each day in list order. Today: PKS and PAN

Prosperous Justice Party

The Prosperous Justice Party, or PKS, has been efficient in recruiting members through solid networking, including through the ubiquitous women's Koranic recital groups, or pengajian, and the use of public opportunities to promote itself, including aggressively rallying for the Palestinian cause.

Its meteoric rise from a fledgling party into the big five in the 2004 general elections has since been reflected in the regions, where it scored repeated victories in local elections at provincial and district levels.

PKS's popularity is high, especially among urban Muslims, although in the regions it has encountered a tougher battleground, having to deal with the strong presence of Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, the country's two largest Islamic organizations.

Although the party endured one of its first major defeats when it lost the Jakarta gubernatorial election in 2007 to candidates backed by the country's two largest parties – Golkar and the Indonesian Democracy Party of Struggle, or PDI-P – it scored something of a moral victory, receiving 40 percent of the vote, a huge jump from the 23 percent it secured in the capital during the 2004 legislative elections. PKS chairman Tifatul Sembiring has said the party aims to win at least 20 percent of the national vote in 2009.

Despite its impressive achievements, surveys have indicated the party will fail to gain a significant increase in votes at the national level this year from what it did in 2004.

Analysts have pointed out the party's recent faux pas of touting former President Suharto as a candidate for national hero, causing a slew of protests and criticism.

Moderate Muslims, who dominate in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, are also suspicious of the party, saying that its recent moderate reformist stand is a ploy to obtain more votes. They point to the party's platform, especially in the legal sector, where the party has strived to implement Islamic laws "that are ready for acceptance by society."

The party is also clear in its wish to practice Islamic teachings and Shariah law as a solution, model and blessing for life.

Party Facts

• Official List No. 8
• Chairman Tifatul Sembiring
• Address 98 D,E,F, Jl. Mampang
• Prapatan Raya, Jakarta 12720
• Web site www.pk-sejahtera.org
• Ideology Islam

Vision

• A party that propagates Islam and enforces justice and prosperity within the Muslim community and the nation
• A party that has an influence, both as a political or participatory force or through opinions, in achieving a civilized Indonesian society
• A force in the values and teaching of Islam in the process of rebuilding the Muslim community and the nation
• A force that pioneers and mobilizes cooperation between the various forces that share the same aims in enforcing the values and system of a benevolent Islam
• An accelerator in the achievement of a civilized society in Indonesia

Overview

PKS had its origins in Partai Keadilan, or PK, which was founded by a group of Muslim youth in July 1998, shortly after the fall of President Suharto. PK managed to win seven seats in the House of Representatives in the 1999 elections. In April 2002, it rebranded itself as the Prosperous Justice Party, or PKS, but kept its basic principle of being an Islamic party that advocates Islam as a solution to the problems faced by the nation. Its networking efforts, vocal leaders and projection as a party that is clean, professional, hard working and compassionate yielded results when, in the 2004 elections, it finished as the fifth-largest vote getter, garnering 45 seats in the House. In the 2004 presidential election, PKS played a major role in the successful campaign of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and although no official decision has been made, PKS executives have said they may throw their support behind Yudhoyono's re-election bid. The PKS is recognized as the country's only real, modern party that has been able to grow by cultivating young members and developing a loyalty to the party based on its platform.

Mission

• Propagate Islamic proselytizing and develop cadres
• Develop civilian Islamic institutions in various fields
• Build up a supportive climate for the application of Islamic teachings that provide solutions and are benevolent
• Build up a political awareness in society, promote advocacy, services and the empowerment of the rights of citizens
• Actively conduct dialogues with various Islamic elements and groupings to achieve a Muslim brotherhood
• Take part in contributing to the enforcement of justice and the rejection of tyranny, especially against oppressed Muslim countries

Presidential Candidate: Yet to announce a candidate

National Mandate Party

Learning from its experiences in the last two elections, in 1999 and 2004, the National Mandate Party, or PAN, launched a drive, under chairman Sutrisno Bachir, to turn itself into a modern, professional party and to shed its image as a more conventional political party that was highly dependent on the charisma of its leadership.

In mid-2008, PAN became the first party to open itself to non-party members wishing to become PAN candidates for the legislative elections. However, the move was criticized by some as exposing the party's weakness in developing young members and its dependence on popular vote-getters.

Although it has declared itself an open party, PAN remains highly dependent on support from Muhammadiyah, the country's second-largest Islamic organization, due to its connection with Amien Rais, one of the party's founders. However, the founding of the National Sun Party, or PMB, by some of the younger members of Muhammadiyah in 2006 has further weakened the increasingly fragile links between the two.

PAN's popularity, according to a series of recent surveys and opinion polls, appears to be on the wane, with many predicting a stagnant performance in the upcoming elections. Observers have attributed this to the inability of the party to communicate its principles of working for a pluralistic society in a language easily understood by the electorate, both urban and rural.

The party's media ads also carry the image of Sutrisno Bachir, but do not elaborate on PAN's vision and mission.

Analysts have said that unlike some of the other more successful parties, PAN and its leadership have failed to seize the opportunities presented by current issues, including the Israel-Palestine conflict, to promote its stance and improve its popularity.

Party Facts

• Official List No. 9
• Chairman Soetrisno Bachir
• Address Jl. Warung Buncit Raya, Kav. No. 17, South Jakarta
• Web site www.pan.or.id/
• Ideology Pancasila

Vision

• PAN aims for the attainment of an Indonesian society that is democratic, adheres to social justice and is independent
• PAN respects and encourages pluralism and upholds non-sectarian and non-discriminative policies
• PAN opposes all forms of dictatorship, totalitarianism and authoritarianism because they run against the essence and dignity of people, infringe on freedom and destroy the law

Overview

PAN has been touted as "the party of intellectuals," with the preponderance of professionals and intellectuals from various disciplines forming its core leadership. PAN was founded in August 1998 by 50 prominent national figures, including former Muhammadiyah chairman Amien Rais. The party is also known as the "melting pot" party in view of the plurality of its members' ethnic origins and religions. In the 1999 elections, PAN gained 7.12 percent of the vote, which translated into 34 seats in the House. Five years later, with reformist Amien Rais at the helm, it won just 6.44 percent, but because of a change in the total number of seats in the House, obtained 52 seats. The current chairman, entrepreneur Sutrisno Bachir, has tried to raise his image through intense print and television advertisements in the past year. He has set a target for the party to win at least 84 House seats, or 15 percent of the vote, in the 2009 elections. But the party appears to face an uphill battle to increase its popularity. Despite its secular, all-embracing policies, its platform remains widely unknown. Its official Web site does not provide access to the party's vision and mission. The only platform statement available online predates the 2004 elections, and although it had all the trademark pro-democracy, pro-pluralism, antipoverty and anticorruption slogans, contained no details on how the party aimed to achieve those goals.

Mission

PAN bases its actions on religious morality, pluralism and humanism, three principles it deems to represent the essence of the Pancasila ideology that the party adheres to.

Presidential Candidate: Yet to announce a candidate