The Nasdem Party is a political party in Indonesia. It is partly funded by media baronSurya Paloh who founded the similarly named organization, National Democrats. Despite this, and logo similarity, Nasional Demokrat has insisted that it is not linked with the party.
History
The Party has its origins in a youth-focused NGO called Nasional Demokrat founded by Surya Paloh, who owns the MetroTVnews channel, and Hamengkubuwono X, the sultan of Yogyakarta in 2010. It received extensive coverage on media owned by Surya Paloh. In 2011, Hamengkubuwono left the organization, unhappy with its transformation into a political party. Less than a month later, Surya Paloh formed the Nasdem Party, and appointed former National Mandate Party politician Patrice Rio Capella as its first chairman. The party was officially declared on 26 July 2011, although it had previously registered with the Justice and Human Rights Ministry in March. At the party's first convention in January 2013, Surya Paloh was appointed party chairman for the 2013 - 2018 term. The conference also conferred on him full authority to determine party strategy and policies and to win the 2014 election. Later the same month, one of the other founders and financial backers, media tycoon Hary Tanoesoedibjo, founder of the huge Media Nusantara Citramedia group, suddenly left the party in protest at Surya Paloh's appointment and defected to the People's Conscience Party, led by former general Wiranto. Hary subsequently became that party's vice-presidential candidate. In late 2013 the Nasdem Party applied to contest the 2014 elections, and on 7 January 2014 the General Elections Commission announced that the Nasdem was the only new party that met all the requirements. It competed along with 12 other national parties. Before founding the party, Surya Paloh had been a senior member of the Golkar Party for 40 years and rose to become chairman of the party's advisory council. He contested the presidential nomination at the 2004 Golkar convention, but lost. In 2009, Golkar nominated Jusuf Kalla as its candidate. However, Surya Paloh has "repeatedly denied" that he formed the Nasdem Party to allow him to run for the presidency again. During the 2014 election campaign, the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission criticized Surya Paloh's MetroTV station for its excessive coverage of the party.
Party platform
According to the party website, the party's policies are to:
Fulfill the needs of the people
Reject democracy that merely complicates governance without bringing about general prosperity and that only leads to power routinely changing hands without producing quality leaders that set an example.
Build a mature democracy
Build a democracy based on strong people who are called on to bring about a bright future
Support the constitutional mandate to build a prosperous nation based on the principles of economic democracy, a law-based state that holds human rights in high regard, and a nation that recognizes diversity
Bring about a nation that is just, prosperous and sovereign through a Movement for Change to Restore Indonesia.
