Vice President of Indonesia - History of The Office

History of The Office

The Indonesian Vice Presidency was established during the formulation of the 1945 constitution by the Researching Body for the Preparation of the Indonesian Independence (BPUPKI). The office was first filled on 18 August 1945 when Mohammad Hatta was elected by acclamation. The election was conducted by the Committee for the Preparation of Indonesian Independence (PPKI) because the body responsible for the Vice Presidential elections, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), had not been formed yet. In the early days of the Republic, the office of Vice President showed how important it can be. On 16 October 1945, Hatta announced a Vice Presidential decree which turned the Central National Committee of Indonesia (KNIP) equal status with that of the President. As a result of this decree, the KNIP was able to separate the role of Head of State and Head of Government on 11 November 1945. Although a new constitution had not been set up yet, Indonesia was now a de facto Parliamentary Democracy.

During the Indonesian National Revolution, both Hatta and Sukarno were captured by the Dutch in Yogyakarta on 18 December 1948. Together with Sukarno, Hatta gave mandate for Syarifuddin Prawiranegara to form an emergency Government. This was done and the Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PDRI) was formed in Sumatra with Prawiranegara as Chairman. Prawiranegara handed back his mandate to Sukarno and consequently, to Hatta on 13 July 1949.

Now officially an independent nation, Indonesia adopted the Provisional Constitution, a document which defined the President's role as a ceremonial Head of State whose role was to appoint a Prime Minister on the advice of formateurs. Although the Vice Presidency continued to exist, the form of Government was now officially a Parliamentary Democracy and there was not a significant role for the Vice President to play. On 1 December 1956, partly because of his differences with Sukarno, Hatta resigned from the Vice Presidency.

For the next 17 years, the Vice Presidency remain vacant. In December 1965, there were calls for a Vice President to be named to assist President Sukarno during the times of uncertainty. The idea did not gain momentum and the Vice Presidency continued to remain vacant as the Presidency passed over from Sukarno to General Suharto.

In March 1973, the Vice Presidency vacancy was filled by Hamengkubuwono IX when he was elected by the MPR. After Hamengkubuwono IX and throughout the New Order, the Vice Presidency were successively held by Adam Malik, Umar Wirahadikusumah, Sudharmono, Try Sutrisno, and BJ Habibie. During his time as President, Suharto would reduce the Vice Presidency to a sinecure. A Vice President was reduced to making sure that Government policy was being implemented and attending ceremonies. The Vice President did not even take on Presidential duties when Suharto was either out of the country or ill. The office would derogatorily be known as Ban Serep (Spare Tire). Despite being a largely figurehead role, the Vice Presidency twice became a source of controversy with Sudharmono having to face various obstacles en route to being Vice President in 1988 and Try being preemptively nominated in 1993.

With Suharto's fall in May 1998 and Habibie's accession to the Presidency, the Vice Presidency once again became vacant. In October 1999, Megawati Sukarnoputri was elected as Vice President and the office began to gain significance. Megawati was delegated genuine tasks to do and in 2000, the she even became responsible for the day-to-day running of the Government.

During the 2001 MPR Annual Session, it was finally decided that from 2004 onwards, the Vice President, together with the President, will directly be elected by the people. The substantial role that the Vice Presidency is now going to have was evident in the way in which the 2004 Presidential Candidates chose their running mates. At the end, Jusuf Kalla became Indonesia's first directly elected Vice President.