Pandaya, Jakarta – First, a revered figure made earth-shaking revelations on corruption, a breach of electoral laws and commonplace polygamy among leaders of the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which strives to portray itself as "clean, caring and professional".
The revelations were shocking because of the caliber of the person who made them: Yusuf Supendi, a PKS cofounder who once headed the party's sharia court and an ex-House of Representatives lawmaker.
Then last week, the PKS became the butt of jokes after one of its politicians, Arifinto, was caught on camera watching porn clips on his tablet computer to overcome boredom at a plenary session in the House.
It was unforgivable mockery of the controversial 2008 Pornography Law the party fiercely promoted with the fanatic backing of Islamic groups but strongly opposed by other religious groups and human rights activists suspicious of its hidden ideological agenda.
Then several more idealistic but sidelined party elders – PKS founders frustrated by the pragmatism of the incumbent younger leaders – are entertaining the idea of establishing the splinter Hisbullah Party.
Some of the fading figures such as Yusuf are unhappy because the pragmatic younger leaders have been leading the PKS away from the original tracks laid out by its founders as a partai dakwah, or a party with Islamic propagation missions.
The series of unfortunate events have unquestionably dealt a heavy blow to the PKS, which has aspired to become one of the top three political parties in the 2014 general elections, in place of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and challenge President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and the Golkar Party.
Securing 57 seats in the House, the PKS is the fourth-largest and belongs to the "medium group", vying for voters with other Islamic-based parties, the United Development Party (PPP), National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awaking Party (PKB).
Choosing Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood as its role model, the PKS relies on the educated, academic urban communities for core support.
To attract a wide spectrum of potential voters and make the party big, the PKS has declared itself an "open" party that accommodates non-Muslims. This move has raised some eyebrows because the PKS has never rescinded its ultimate goal of turning Indonesia into an Islamic state.
"How can you win the elections in predominantly Hindu Bali if you do not involve the Hindus there?" says Fahri Hamzah, a senior PKS lawmaker.
The recent flurry of allegations leveled against PKS leadership eclipses the party's relatively clean image as it is formed by respected figures although they may no longer hold sway.
Yusuf specifically accused party secretary-general and lawmaker Anis Matta of embezzling Rp 10 billion of the Rp 40 billion fund made available by Adang Daradjatun who needed PKS backing to run for the Jakarta gubernatorial race in 2007.
He also accused PKS chief Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq of accepting Rp 34 billion from Jusuf Kalla who needed the party's support for his presidential bid in 2004, and accused party lawmaking council chairman Hilmi Aminuddin of having a penchant for "gifts".
Particularly interesting is Yusuf's claim that the PKS, then named simply the Justice Party, obtained more than 90 percent of its 1999 election campaign funds from the Middle East. Indonesian laws forbid political parties from accepting foreign funds.
Party executives have strongly denied the allegations, which Yusuf has reported to the Corruption Eradication Commission, the House's Ethics Council and the police.
The Hizbullah Party that former senior PKS leader Tizar Zein has established may not pose a serious threat to the bruised PKS, but it will be the most visible crack resulting from bitter internal rivalry in the party that many have believed would become one of the country's biggest.
History has shown that splinter parties resulting from internal rift within major parties fail to see the light of day. They called it a day after they fail to pass the minimum electoral and legislative thresholds.
At the end of the day, all the unfortunate incidents only convince people that there is no such thing as a "clean party", not even those religious-based, in Indonesia where corruption is often official.
Only time will tell if would-be voters will still trust the PKS as a "clean, caring and professional" party.