In the years following the reforms of the late 1990s, a number of parties claiming to be the continuation of previous PNIs stood in elections, but gained only a handful of seats.

Wishing to make a fresh start free of the stigma of a court verdict against it, at an extraordinary party congress on 25 April 1931, the PNI was dissolved.

On August 23, Sukarno spoke in the radio and welcomed the new party, which was a direct continuation of the wartime Japanese Jawa Hokokai (Java Service Association), saying he hoped it would unite all sections of society.

However, given the close connections these individuals had with the Japanese wartime regime, two days later a revised permanent leadership was named.

PNI members were subsequently appointed to four posts in the Third Sjahrir Cabinet, including minister of justice and vice-minister of finance.

Following the signature of the agreement, PNI and Masyumi members resigned in protest, bringing down the Second Amir Sjarifuddin Cabinet.

As a result, in November 1948, right-wingers who also supported Prime Minister Hatta's policy of negotiating with the Dutch, putting them at odds with the majority of the membership, split off to form the Great Indonesia Unity Party (PIR).

Following the Dutch recognition of Indonesian sovereignty at the end of 1949, the PNI had two seats in the cabinet of the United States of Indonesia (RUSI).

This left the radical-nationalists such as chairman Sidik Djojosukarto greater control over the party[12][13][14] After the dissolution of the RUSI and the reestablishment of the unitary state in August 1950, the PNI refused to join the cabinet, claiming it had been offered too few posts for its 43 seats in the Provisional People's Representative Council.

Campaigning on a program that prioritized above all nationalism, together with a strong centralized government and secularism, the PNI came first in the 1955 Indonesian general election, with a 22.3% share of the vote.

The  cabinet resulting from the election was a coalition of the PNI, Masyumi and the NU, with Ali Sastroamidjojo returning to the post of prime minister.

[20][21][22] In 1956, tired of national political instability, President Sukarno called for the parties to be "buried" and spoke of his concept of "guided democracy".

In March 1957, the regional Permesta rebellion broke out, and Army Chief of staff Naution proposed Sukarno declare martial law nationwide.

Sukarno agreed, and on 14 March the cabinet resigned, and martial law came into force, thus ending parliamentary democracy.

[23][24] In May 1957, the Working Cabinet, which was officially non-party, passed an emergency law establishing a National Council based on functional groups.

When local elections were held in Java and South Sumatra in 1957, the PKI made significant gains at the expense of the PNI, which dropped from first place (in the 1955 vote) to third.

They were supported in this by Sukarno and the Army, who both wanted to undermine the party system as part of the move towards Guided Democracy.

In the aftermath of this, the PNI, which was seen as a PKI-collaborator, faced strong pressure from the army to purge its left wing and pro-PKI faction, led by party chairman Ali Sastroamidjojo and Surachman.

There was resistance to this from the party's Central and East Java branches, and this led to clashes with anti-Sukarno students in 1966 and 1967.

However, conservatives Hardi and Suharto associate Hadisubeno Sosrowerdojo persuaded the party leadership to hold a "reunification" meeting in April 1966.

The now-weakened PNI was subsequently given 68 seats in the People's Representative Council, which had itself been purged of PKI members, making it the largest group.

In April 1970, Osa Maliki died, and strong pressure from the army resulted in Hadisubeno, who was thought to be compliant with government aims, being selected as chairman.

[31][32][33][34] In October 1995 an organization called Indonesian National Union (Persatuan Nasional Indonesia) was established as a vehicle for PNI followers.

The party was officially declared on 17 July 1998 with the aims of upholding the unitary republic of Indonesia and opposing federalism as this could lead to national disintegration.