Hasyim Widhiarto and Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Revelations of long-kept secrets of high living and allegations of graft and unauthorized polygamy among the leaders of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) are providing a glimpse of the dark side of the party's elites.
While such allegations have been in wide circulation since 2008, it was not until last week that they were substantiated by one of the party's founders and former key figure Yusuf Supendi, whose claims were eventually backed by other PKS founders.
"The party's leaders have long steered the party into pragmatism, veering far from its original course, which calls for a central role for Islam in public life," Yusuf said.
Yusuf was not an ordinary PKS member. He was the religious instructor of current PKS president Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq and PKS secretary-general Anis Matta in the 1980s, as well as the roommate of PKS chief patron Hilmi Aminuddin while the pair was studying in Saudi Arabia.
He was also a top official in the party's sharia council, an oversight body supervising members' attitudes and enforcing Islamic teachings in daily life.
Yusuf's revelations are the first signs of the most devastating internal rift encountered by the PKS since its inception in 1998 under the name of the Justice Party (PK).
The corruption allegations will likely prove most damaging to the PKS, whose anticorruption positions and campaigns contributed to its soaring success at the polls in the 2004 and 2009 elections.
However, PKS elites have been downplaying the allegations, saying the motives of Yusuf and his colleagues stemmed from frustration after Yusuf was discharged by the party for "depraved behavior".
The party has yet to file defamation charges against Yusuf, who it also claimed was "mentally unhealthy".
"There's also an indication Yusuf is being used by certain political elites to sideline the party after a recent failed attempt by PKS and the Golkar Party to pass a legislative investigation of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration and the alleged mafia at the tax and customs offices," Luthfi said.