The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) opened its congress Thursday with a vow to remain in the ruling coalition led by the President's Democratic Party and to become more inclusive in a bid to garner more votes in 2014.
The chairman of the party's consultative body, Hilmi Aminuddin, said the coalition with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party was "permanent".
"Many parties want to end [the PKS coalition with Yudhoyono]. But we will continue to coalesce," he said.
The President, in his opening speech at the congress, underlined the importance of strengthening the coalition among pro-government parties to support national development programs.
"I believe this nation is now on the right track, but we need to work harder to provide welfare for all citizens," he told the congress, which was also attended by leaders of other political parties in the coalition, including Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum, National Mandate Party chairman Hatta Rajasa and Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie.
The solidity of the ruling coalition has recently been tested by political bickering centering on the government's controversial decision to bail out an ailing bank in 2008 and more recently Golkar's "pork barrel" proposal.
Yudhoyono highlighted three development goals that the government wanted to achieve: better economic welfare, stronger democracy, and justice for all citizens without discrimination.
He called on all to build a "good society" with strong characteristics including respect for religious values, social norms and human rights.
"The people who live in a good society also have high tolerance and avoid conflict when solving problems," he said.
The PKS' second national congress runs from June 16 to 20, during which the party will elect its new national board members and discuss the party's strategy in the next five-year term.
Party president Luthfi Hasan Ishaq said the PKS was committed to building an open nation as formulated by the country's founding fathers.
"The PKS is an inseparable part of this nation and of the international community," he said, adding that the party would be actively involved in nation-building strategies.
Though it espouses Islam as its basic ideology, the party claims to be inclusive and would involve non-Muslims in its leadership.
It recently announced plans to forge closer relations with the US to "broaden its political base" despite persistent anti-US sentiment in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.
The party's new tagline, "PKS for All", is expected to help re-brand the Islamic-based party, which is still viewed with suspicion by some critics for its alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
PKS supporters are mostly members of the so-called tarbiyah movement, which was inspired by Egyptian Muslim ideologue Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Luthfi said the party had grown stronger since first taking part in general elections in 1999. It aims to finish in the top three in the 2014 election.
"It's our responsibility to achieve the target," he told the more than 5,000 party members at the ceremony.
In the 2004 election, the party won 45 seats in the House of Representatives, while in the 2009 election, the party won 57 seats.