The Emergence of Gerakan Arah Baru Indonesia (Garbi) and Factionalism in Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS)

This article discusses factionalism in Islamic political parties in contemporary Indonesian politics, especially within Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (Prosperous Justice Party). The factionalism inside the party has occurred since the 2004 elections due to differences in the party management between those who prefer an idealist approach and pragmatism.  However, the differences between the proponents of each approach do not produce any friction leading to the emergence of a splinter group until the current leadership. It is only after the commencement of the 2015–2020 PKS leadership has the factionalism finally given birth to a new organization, Garbi (Gerakan Arah Baru Indonesia or Indonesian New Direction Movement). This study will discuss the emergence of splinter groups in PKS by using Boucek’s factionalism theory. The case of Garbi shows that stages of factionalism in PKS tend to be cooperative and leading to competition. However, before the rise of Garbi itself, which is declared as a movement instead of a political party, the factionalism within PKS has yet entered the competitive stage. This study argues that the factionalism has been heavily influenced by deep-rooted doctrinal values among its cadres that may hinder any severe impacts of competitive or even degenerative factionalism. Therefore, even though the factionalism appears to move towards degeneration in the near future, PKS appears to have managed the impact of the process with relative smooth and is able to maintain its solidity at certain level.