Politics in Simalungun:: A Study in Political Integration

POLITICS IN SIMALUNGUN:
A Study in Political Integration
By R. William Liddle
A DISSERTATION
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School
of Yale University in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
1967
SUMMARY
The problem of political integration in a new state is explored through an

analysis of political leadership and organization in the regency of Simalungun
and its central city of Pematangslantar in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Political
integration is defined as including (1) a vertical dimension, which involves the
closing of the gap between an urban, Western-educated, nationalist political
elite and the largely traditional, rural population and (2) a horizontal dimension,
which involves a meshing together of disparate social groups within a
framework of national loyalties and institutions
The population of Simalungun is divided into four ethnic and two religious
groups. The Simalungun Bataks, indigenous to the region, are mostly
Protestants, live in rural villages and engage in swidden agriculture. The South
Tapanuli Bataks are Moslems, town-dwellers and engaged in trade or white-
collar Occupations. The Protestant North Tapanull Batak group includes a
substantial urban population and a rural population of wet-rice farmers. The
non-devout Moslem Javanese, imported to Simalungun as plantation laborers,
remain on or near the plantations. Plantation workers (mostly Javanese) and
illegal squatters on plantation lands (North Tapanuli Bataks and Javanese)
constitute a significant socio-economic group among whom a sense of common
interests is emerging.
Of the five major political parties in Simalungun in the post_ independence
neriod, four have been local branches of national organizations. The two major
religious parties have become closely tied to the interests of particular ethnic
groups: Masjumi (Moslem with South Tapanull Bataks, and Parkindo
(Protestant) with North Tapanuli Bataks. Because of the strength of ethnic-
religious ties, and their easy convertibility into partisan loyalties, the religious
parties have not developed complex organizational structures. The two major
secular parties, PNI (Nationalist) and PKI (Communist), lacking this advantage,
have attempted to build support among plantation workers and squatters
regardless of ethnic-religious background. Because of the fragility of.aoyalties
based on socioeconomic interests the secular parties have developed highly
complex, hierarchical, well-articulated Organizational structures.
The Simalungun Bataks supported a purely local ethnic political
organization in the 1950s; in recent years they have not been affiliated with any
oarty.
The impact of the party system, and of the larger Indonesian political
environment, has been generally dysfunctional for the creation of an integrated
political system. Masjumi and Parkindo have tended to exacerbate deep-rootdd
primordial cleavages, and the PNI and PKI have in large measure failed to
inculcate supra- ethnic partisan loyalties. Although the parties have provided an
institutional network linking Simalungun to the national political process,
several factors--the nature of party ideologies, organization and leadership, the
decline of the parties as authoritative decision-makers—have combined to limit
the local-national integrative capacity of the party system.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................iv
INTRODUCTION .............................................1
I. CONTEMPORARY SIMALUNGUN/SIANTAR: AN OVERVIEW 11
PART ONE: SOCIO-POLITICAL CHANGE IN SIMALUNGUN
II. TRADITIONAL GOVERNHENT AND SOCIETY IN SIMALUNGUN 54

I. T H E C O L O N I A L PERIOD ..............................76
III. JAPANESE OCCUPATION AND NATIONALIST REVOLUTION ...... 116
PART TWO: CONTEMPORARY POLITICS IN SIMALUNGUN/SIANTAR
IV. THE PARTY SYSTEM AND THE GOVERNMENTAL PROCESS. . 150

V. THE LOCAL PARTIES: OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES AND
ORGANIZATION 185
VI. BASES OF PARTISAN SUPPORT: VOTERS, MEMBERS AND LEADERS 229
VII. PARTY LEADFRSHIP: RECRUITMENT AND LINKAGE. . . . 277
VIII. PATTERNS OF INTRA-PARTY FACTIONALISF....... .. 328
IX. SUKU SIMALUNGUN: AN ETHNIC GROUP IN SEARCH OF
REPRESENTATION ................................. 386
X. LOCAL POLITICS AND POLITICAL INTEGRATION:
AN EVALUATION. ......................................................................................... 4 2 0
PoOTNOTEs............................................................................................................................... 4 4 8
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 4 8 4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A doctoral dissertation is the product of many influences, intellectual and

personal, reaching back at least to the experiences of undergraduate days. It is
appropriate, there- -fore, to begin by expressing appreciation to Yale
University, where I was privileged to be both an undergraduate and a graduate
student, and to Yale's Directed Studies, Divisional Honors Major II (Political
and Economic Institutions) and political science graduate programs. To thank a
university and its programs is in reality to thank its faculty; I would like to
mention in particular David J. Braybrooke, Hobert A. Dahl, Herbert S.
Kaufman, No J. Lederer and Charles E. Lindblom. In different combinations all
of these individuals provided intellectual stimulation, moral support and
personal friendship. Professors Kaufman and Dahl should perhaps be further
singled out, as it was they who first urged upon me a career in political science.
As a graduate student associated with the Yale Southeast Asia Studies
program I benefitted greatly from exposure to the methods and concerns of
scholars in other disciplines concerned with the problems of change and
development in Southeast Asia and Indonesia. In anthropology, I learned much
from Gerald C. Hickey; in economics, from Douglas Paauw; and in history,
from Harry J. Benda. Also much appreciated was the kindness, patience and
skill of Mr. and Mrs. Abdul Rony, who taught me the Indonesian language.
Harry Benda's contributions to this dissertation go far beyond his formal
role as a teacher of modern Indonesian history. From the prospectus stage to
completion, Professor Benda responded to every query and made valuable
comments and criticisms on every chapter. His continuing support and concern
were especially valuable in those dark days when the field notes seemed to defy
analysis. If more of his suggestions had been adopted, the final product would
undoubtedly be better. For valuable advice at critical points during the writing,
appreciation is also due to Joseph LaPalombara and Robert 0. Tilman of Yale
University, John R. W. Small of the University of Wisconsin, and Bradley
Richardson and John Orbell of The Ohio State University. For help with the
statistical analyses in Chapter VII, I am indebted to Joseph T. Crymes. Most of
the tables were originally prepared by my wife, who also provided trenchant
criticism of writing style and organization.
Field work in Simalungun/Siantar in 1963-64 was made possible by a grant
from the Ford Foundation. For a year at the University of Chicago (1964-65) as
a Carnegie Fellow of the Committee for the Comparative Study of New
Nations, I am grateful to the Committee, the Carnegie Foundation and to
Aristide Zolberg, Morris Janowitz and Clifford Geertz, who commented on
various sections of Part One. Beyond his specific comments, Prof. Geertz'
brilliant analyses of many aspects of Indonesian social and Political life and his
general discussions of the problems of new states have constituted the single
most influential source for my own analysis of politics in Simalungun/Siantar.
In many respects my deepest debt is to the people of SimalungUn/Slantar--
politicians, civil servants, urbanites and villagers--who were willing to give
freely of their time and energy to provide information and hospitality to the
foreigner in their midst. A special note of thanks must be offered to the
members of marga Purba whose hospitality included the induction of a sibontar
mata into the merge, and to the members of marga Sitolubatu, whose
kindnesses were many and whose friendship will never be forgotten.
Finally, I would like to thank my parents, whose contributions have taken
many forms. Despite misgivings and reservations about their son's choice of a
career and his desire to travel to the far ends of the earth, their love and support
has been unstintingly given.
Whatever merits this study may have are thus the result of a collaboration
in the broadest sense; its deficiencies, on the other hand, are my responsibility
alone.
R. William Liddle
Columbus, Ohio March 13, 1967

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POLITICS IN SIMALUNGUN:

A Study in Political Integration

The problem of political integration in a new state is explored through an

PART ONE: SOCIO-POLITICAL CHANGE IN SIMALUNGUN

II. TRADITIONAL GOVERNHENT AND SOCIETY IN SIMALUNGUN 54

PART TWO: CONTEMPORARY POLITICS IN SIMALUNGUN/SIANTAR

IV. THE PARTY SYSTEM AND THE GOVERNMENTAL PROCESS. . 150

A doctoral dissertation is the product of many influences, intellectual and

Columbus, Ohio March 13, 1967

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