Partai Amanat Nasional (PAN) Hadir Meneruskan Cita-Cita Reform Dalam Memori Hari Ini, 23 Agustus 1998

Chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Zulkifli Hasan (two right) and Chairman of the Honorary Council, Amien Rais (three right) at the opening of the PAN National Working Meeting at the Millennium Hotel, Jakarta in 2019. (Between)

JAKARTA Memories of today, 25 years ago, August 23, 1998, the National Mandate Party (PAN) was declared at Istora Senayan Jakarta. The presence of PAN is considered a new vehicle to continue the ideals of reform. Mainly, welfare matters. In particular, the presence of PAN is known as the political locomotive of Amien Rais and 49 national figures.

Previously, Amien Rais was a prominent figure who opposed the New Order (Orba) power. The domination of the New Order's power did not make Amien Rais' guts shrink. His courage also made him often remembered as a noisy opposition.

The extension of the New Order began to be widely opposed at the end of its power. All national figures began to realize that New Order's power only brought harm, rather than benefits. Amien Rais, one of them. He considered the New Order as a carriage of corrupt and repressive government.

Instead of thinking about the people, the authorities are busy enriching themselves. Amien also spoke in every forum. All Indonesian people gave him a noisy opposition stamp. Amien's action against New Order's power increased when entering 1998.

This year is considered the peak of an economic recession that is suffering the Indonesian people. Activists, students, and all Indonesian people began to be moved to perpetuate the resistance against Suharto and the New Order.

Amien Rais with other figures - from Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) to Megawati Soekarnoputri - asked Suharto to come down. Their voices poured everywhere. Actions took to the streets were perpetuated continuously by celebrities, students, and activists.

Amien fully supports the action. He was not afraid at all. He likes to understand his capacity as leader of the Islamic Organization, Muhammadiyah. His leadership made the New Order cautious with Amien. At its peak, Amien Rais was later known as the locomotive of the 1998 movement.

At this stage, Amien Rais spoke louder against Suharto and demanded him get out of the presidency. He asked Gus Dur and Megawati to join a frontline against Suharto, but Gus Dur still refused while saying that ABRI sources had given him a warning.

"And that bloody confrontation would have happened if they had publicly fought Suharto. Personally, Gus Dur said that he believed Prabowo and his thugs together with radical Muslims could do anything, for their purposes," said Greg Barton in Gus Dur's book Biography (2003).

The New Order collapsed due to growing protests. Amien Rais and 49 national figures plan to continue the ideals of reform. They then thought about the presence of a new party as a political vehicle. The goal is to make Indonesia better.

The National Mandate Party (PAN), its name. PAN, which was never separated from the figure of Amien, was later declared on August 23, 1998. The declaration was greeted with a commotion by thousands of people who were present at Istora Senayan. The presence of PAN is also predicted to be a tool for people's struggle to achieve sovereignty, democracy, progress, and social justice.

"Ladies and gentlemen, whom I respect and I love, thank God, all praise to Allah SWT for His grace and blessings so that today, August 23, 1998, on His permission we succeeded in producing a new political party: the National Mandate Party. As said in basic principles, the National Mandate Party is a political party that fights for the sovereignty of the people, democracy, progress, and social justice.

The aspirations of this party are rooted in morals of religion, humanity, and diversity. 53 years we have proclaimed Indonesia's independence and sovereignty. However, in more than half a century, we have not fulfilled the nation's independence and sovereignty as a mandate in the sense of the real word. In fact, we often fill that independence with the enforcement of authoritarianism, the cultivation of feudalism," said Amien Rais during the declaration of PAN as quoted in the bookAmien Rais: From Yogya to Bina Graha (1999).