Internal conflict with Nahdlatul Ulama

The first years of the party was marred by internal conflict between the former political parties that had been fused into the party. Naro and others who originally came from the Parmusi, called themselves as the Muslimin Indonesia (MI) faction in the United Development Party.^[2] Later on, MI became one of the largest faction in the party, frequently conflicting with NU (Nahdlatul Ulama).^[3]

Naro's chance to become the chairman of the party widened after the walk out by the NU faction of the PPP during the 1978 General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly. After the walk out, Mintaredja was displaced as the chairman of PPP by the government through a political manipulation designed by Ali Murtopo, and the government replaced him with Naro. Without any meetings or muktamar, Naro declared himself as the chairman of PPP, supported by the government.^[4]

After Naro became the chairman of the party, he neutralized the vocalism of NU faction inside the party. Naro ensured that none of the party members had an independent source of power, and effectively centralized all of the patronage channels to himself. The blow to the NU faction by Naro became larger due to the hostilities of the government and military to NU members, especially small enterprises and merchants that support NU.^[5] The government changed its support to Muhammadiyah, a more modern Islamic organization.^[6]

The peak of Naro's hostility to the NU culminated during the 1982 Indonesian legislative election. During the formation of the temporary candidates for the legislative election in 1981, Naro reduced the proportion of the PPP candidates from the NU faction, and put the names of the NU faction way below the list, so low that it is impossible for them to be elected.^[5] This incident aggravated the conflict between the MI faction and the NU faction, and in 1984, after the first muktamar of the party, NU formally withdrew from the PPP party.^[7]

First Muktamar of the United Development Party

The first muktamar (conference) of the party that legitimizes Naro as the chairman, was marred with conflicts, even before the muktamar was held. During the preparation, Naro formed the committee for the muktamar without consultation of the party's president, Idham Chalid, causing the committee to become invalid and unrecognized by the ranks of the party.^[3]

Acception of Pancasila

During the 1980s, Soeharto prompted political parties to accept Pancasila as its only ideology, creating the concept of single principle. This concept was first delivered during Soeharto's speech in the Armed Forces meeting on 27 March 1980 and in the Kopassus anniversary on 16 April 1980. The concept was formally delivered in 1983, and was approved as a law in 1985. All political parties and mass organization should held Pancasila as its ideology and the only principle, ruling out other ideology previously held.^[8]

Even though Naro was supported by the government and his party accepted the single principle, Naro rejected this concept. He rejected the change of the party's symbol, from the Ka'aba to a star. This rejection was used by the Soedardji faction, an internal opposition of Naro's rule, to delegitimize him. Soedardji failed to overthrow Naro from the chairman, and Soedardji created a new Central Executive Council of the party, causing dualism in the party.^[3] Soedardji demanded Naro to organize an extraordinary muktamar to end the conflict in the party.^[1]

Candidate for Vice President

General session of the People's Representative Council in 1987.

As the leader of the PPP, Naro was nominated as a candidate for the vice president for Soeharto's fifth term. Naro was presumably supported by the private backing of the armed forces. Opposing him was Sudharmono, which was nominated by Golkar, and supported officially by the armed forces, regional delegation, and the Indonesian Democratic Party. The supporters of Sudharmono persuaded him to step down from his candidacy, so that Sudharmono would be appointed as vice president by Soeharto, and the session of the MPR can be finished in time.^[9]

Soeharto intervened the discussion about the vice presidency by saying that "the candidate that predicts himself would not obtain majority for the election should withdraw". B.M. Diah explained that Soeharto's statement expects the withdrawal of the said candidate "to give more room to those who certainly elected with the most votes".^[10] Still, Naro insisted on his candidacy, claiming that Soeharto didn't gave him the signal to step down.^[11]

On 10 March, just before the election in the MPR for the vice president, three ranks from the PPP met Soeharto. The next morning, the PPP fraction sends a letter to the speaker of the MPR that states the withdrawal of Naro's candidacy for the position of Vice President. The letter was read out during the MPR session for the election of vice president.^[11] This makes Sudharmono the only candidate for the vice president position, and he was inaugurated on the same night.^[12]

After the session, Naro was asked by reporters about the withdrawal of his vice president candidacy. Naro claimed that he wasn't withdrawing, and compared himself to a boxer that was "stopped by the promoter".^[12]

As a protest to the pressure by Soeharto to Naro, Sarwo Edhie Wibowo, a former general allied to Soeharto, withdrew from the legislative. It was the only time in the history of the New Order a dissent occurred on the election of vice president post, and broke the Soehartoist concept of "deliberation to reach consensus".^[13]