Berkarya Party

The Berkarya Party (acronym for Beringin Karya, ) is an Indonesian political party formed in 2016. The party was formed to channel the political aspirations of former president Suharto's youngest son, Hutomo Mandala Putra, better known as Tommy Suharto. Tommy, a convicted murderer by proxy, lost the general chairmanship of the party in July 2020 after the government recognized the leadership of a breakaway faction headed by former general Muchdi Purwopranjono. Berkarya came 11th out of 16 political parties that contested Indonesia's 2019 general election, receiving 2.09% of votes cast. The party supported Tommy's former brother-in-law Prabowo Subianto's unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2019. After failing to win a 4% threshold necessary to gain seats in the national parliament, the party in 2020 split into rival factions: one led by Tommy and the government-recognized faction led by Muchdi. Background Tommy Suharto in 2009 contested the leadership of Golkar Party, his father's former political vehicle, but failed to win any votes. In 2016, it was announced that Tommy would again contest the Golkar leadership but he did not enter the race. Instead, he joined the newly formed Berkarya Party. Berkarya is an amalgamation of Beringin Karya Party and National Republic (Nasrep) Party. It was established on 15 July 2016 to coincide with Tommy's birthday, and was recognized by the government as a legitimate political party on 17 October 2016. Controversially, Berkarya Party uses Golkar's distinctive banyan tree logo and yellow color. Berkarya's founding chairwoman Neneng A. Tuty said these similarities were coincidental and not an effort to imitate Golkar.