Review Article: 2021 Vol: 25 Issue: 1S
Kunkunrat, Universitas Padjadjaran
Samugyo Ibnu Redjo, Universitas Padjadjaran
Muradi, Universitas Padjadjaran
Dede Sri Kartini, Universitas Padjadjaran
Political Parties, Political Attitudes, Political Conflict, Underbow Organization.
The phenomenon of internal conflict that occurs in political parties seems to diminish the Hope that political parties will be able to become institutions that strengthen the democratic process. Differences in political attitudes and political views relating to party policies on issuesrelated to the public interest. Several internal conflicts have occurred in severalparties, including the Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS). This study focuses on political attitudes ofthe Underbow Organizationof PKS such as organizational ideology and interactions with internal parties (party elites) and external parties during internal conflicts leading up to the 2019 Election and considers trends or possibilities that will occur in the future after internal conflict. This research is a qualitative research with descriptive analysis method. With the source of the data in this study were collected through observation based on activities and events in the field and in depth interviews with informants.This research conclude sthat:(1) Managinganideological party base requires seriousness of cadres in recruiting and regular coaching is required sothat ideological values can be maintained. Parties need to be responsive in responding to the dynamics of politics and the times, without eliminating party ideology as the basis of movement.; (2) The foundation in the interaction built by the underbow with the Party elite when there is an internal conflictusing persuasive approach and built some discussion withexternalparties; (3) Towards a post internal conflictfuture,theUnderbow must be more independent, solid and more mature. The younger generation must have the opportunity in party management because the party needs young cadrestopushfor a change after an internal conflictoccurs.
Political parties in Indonesia are like sand castles, a slight wind blows, parties then breakup. In general, the occurrence of political conflicts, including conflicts within political parties,can occur due to differences of opinion, competition, and conflicts between a number of individuals, groups or organizations in an effort to obtain or maintain the sources of decisions made and carried out by the government (Sulistyo, 2012). Several internal conflictshaveoccurred in several parties, such as Golkar, PDI Perjuangan, PPP, PAN, PKB and Nasdem, including the Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) which was previously considered to have strong ideological roots and is close to Islamic neo revival is mormoderate fundamentalism, particularly supportedby urban and educated young Muslims.
The party's internal conflict which resulted in the splitting of the party into two campsshows the failure of the party in its institutionalization process. According to (Randall & Svans, 2002) as an organization that has formal rules and objectives, parties can be seen as well-institutionalized if they are well-established in terms of integrated behavior patterns, attitudes and cultures. Goodparty institutionalization is the main pre requisite for a stable internal political party.
Internal conflicts that afflict political parties in Indonesia are often caused by differences in the way political party elites interpret political party platform sand policies on certain issues, this condition then forms political pragmatism which has the potential to undermine the solidity of political parties. A number of political party elites often place power as the main goal ofpolitics and use political parties as vehicles to pursue power. This condition causes political party elites and politicians to manipulate the main orientation of the political parties' struggles that contribute to building an ideal society based on their ideology. This shift in orientation itself reduces the role of ideology in building militancy and solidity in political party organizations (Wiwoho, 2015).
With some research that has been conducted by several researchers, the political attitude of administrators or organizations under a party can cause turmoil within the party itself (Kamarudin, 2013; Romli, 2017). In relation to this research, the author focuses on the PKS underbow political attitude during the conflict between factions leading up to the 2019 elections. The topic of this research is based on the emergence of a view which states that PKS is a da'wah party with strong jama’ah (cadre) strength and prioritizes loyalty and trust in leaders in making policies (Basyir, 2014; Mentari, 2018), but on the other hand the emergence of conflict between factions (Keadilan factions and Sejahtera factions) actually threaten the strength of jama’ah with in the PKS itself, especially ahead of the 2019 elections (Priohutomoetal, 2019). The factionalization with in the PKS, whose existence was considered to be the result of the political pragmatism of some party elites, caused the fragility of the jama’ah line with in the party. This is due to conditions in which keyfactors in PKS play a keyrole in carrying out group actions and strategies, namely factionalization within the PKS (Munandar, 2011). From this condition, the fighting and conflict between the two factions turned out to have a systemic impact to the lower level (the cadres).
One of the important elements of the jama'ah strength in PKS is the Underbow Organization. Underbow Organization of political parties have a role in the effort of the cadre process and strengthening of political party structures and movements (Djuyandi & Sodikin, 2019; Panjaitan, 2019). However, in the midst of conflict between factions ahead of the 2019 Election, PKS's Underbow political attitude became an interesting phenomenon to examine because the organization was considered to have played an important role in maintaining and strengthening the strength of the jama'ah. But on the otherhand, the Underbow also has close ties with figures from certain factions.
The remainder of the present paper is structured in the following manner. Section 2 contains the Literature Review used in this study. Section 3, which explains the Research Method. In Section 4, the results of research and further discussed. Finally, Section 5 concludes the paper.
Political Parties
Political parties are political organizations that carry out certain ideologies or are formed with special objectives. It can also be interpreted as an organized group whose members have the same orientation, values and ideals. The aim of this group is to gain political power and seize political position by constitutional means, in order to carry out their policies.
According to (Wolinetz, 2002) political parties are essential for the realization of democratic governance. This opinion is based on the assumption that political parties can provide then ecessary boundaries, coherence and integrity of the process of formulating and implementing policies based on majority choice in a democraticmanner. With out the existence of political parties, the process of selecting candidates for political leaders will be disorganized and unplanned. (Neumann, 1966) argues that political parties are organizations formed by political activists who try to control government power and win popular supportonthe basis of competition against other dissenting groups.
Political Attitude
Political attitudes are not only some thing that is in herent from person to person, political attitudes can also emerge or be determined by a political organization, according to (Sastroatmodjo,1995), that political attitudes are defined as there adiness of a person ororganizationtoreacttocertainobjectsof a politicalnature as anappreciationoftheobject.
Plano (1985) argues that if political attitudes are anamalgamation of various in here nt beliefs and encourage a person ororganization to respond to an objector political situation in a certainway, then political attitudes can be understood as a result of choices, actions or decisions of the organization to respond to political situations. Because of that, the political attitude of the PKS’s Under bow during the internal conflict ahead of the 2019 Electionisan interesting thing to study, especially to see what the decisions made by the organization look like.
Political Conflict
To seetheproblemsraised in this study, the authoruses the concept of political conflict. Conflict according to the Indonesia Vocabulary Base (KBBI) is squabbling; dispute; contradiction; andtension. So, conflictis a dispute that occurs between two or more, when both want the same need and when there are obstacles from bothside, both potentially and practically (Depdikbud, 1995).
According to Gataraand Said (2007) political conflictis a conflict involving groups in society and betweens overeignstates. Thus, political conflictis a conflic to finterest between people orinstitutions in politics and government that requiresresolution. The form of settlement canbe in the form of dialogue, agreement, to physicalviolence.
Conflict Management
It is undeniable that conflicts that occur in political partiesarise because of differences or diversity of interests between members of the party,and in the context of conflict management, parties who have different interests need to be directed to understand the diversity of interests. With out an effortt ounderstand the diversity of interests, conflict will be difficult to control or cannot be managed properly (Wirawan, 2016).
Sukarno (2014) writes that the pattern of resolving political party organizational conflicts be for eentering the compromise or negotiation stage, is sought first to empower the role of the leadership of political party organization stouse their dominance in suppressing conflicts in the organization. If the party leadership is the nunable to use its dominance, the next step that can be taken is to make compromises or negotiations that are able to produce satisfactory results for bothside. From the negotiation process,it is then necessary to have a reconciliationofinterestswhichisindicatedbytheoccurrenceof a more open communication process between groups that have been at odds with each other.
The designofthis study usesqualitativemethods, expressing the problems of this research as a whole and objectively in accordance with the actual facts. Qualitative research reliesonprimary data collection which is mainly obtained through interviews with key informants or sources. This research usesd escriptive analys is method, which is to explore the problems of this study and articulate the findings or facts that occur in the form of descriptive data as a whole and objectively.
The data validity testing technique used in this study is to use data triangulation techniques (check, recheck, and cross-check) the data obtained from documentation studies, FGDs, and in-depth interviews. With the triangulation technique, it can find things that are academic (scientific) and practical and find out what the real PKS underbow political attitude is when there is internal conflict ahead of the 2019 Election. Sourcesofinformation in this study are thosewho are considered to know and understand about PKS’s Under bowpoliticalattitudes. Basedonthis, the study determined a numberofinformants as follows:
1. Chairmanofthe Department ofEducationofthe Partai Keadilan Sejahtera: Dr. Indra Kusumah.
2. Chairmanof Gema Keadilan: Akbar Zulfakar.
3. Chairmanof Garuda Keadilan: Syafiq Fadlu Rahman.
4. Chairmanof KAMMI
5. Academicsandpoliticalpartyobservers.
Underbow Organization of the Partai Keadilan Sejahtera
Political parties are one of the important organizations in a representative democracy system. The existence of parties should be able to bridge the interests of the people with the government. However, when parties in Indonesia begin to lose public trust due to the failure of parties to accommodate the interests of society, parties need to find new strategies to rebuild public trust. One of the instruments that can be used by parties in increasing the enthusiasm of the community is through the Underbow Organizaion (Febrianty et al., 2019).
As a party known for its cadre process, PKS makes cadres a inevitability andnecessity, the position of cadres for PKS is considered important in building relations with the community. For PKS that a strong party will depend on solid cadres with each other, the concept of cadre in PKS is applied in a directed pattern, cadres are also provided with political education to have a level of knowledge and understanding, both regarding democracy, political systems and state governance. Qualified cadres will determine the fate of the party in the future, under no circumstances should the party depend on various figures.
PKS has several underbow organizations whose existence is considered important in building communication with the community, underbow organizationis a forum that is not only important to form organizational experience and character for PKS cadres but also for the community to be able to participate in social, political and religious activities. Some of the underbowsorganization from PKS are:
1. Gerakan Persaudaraan Pemuda (Gema) Keadilan
2. Gerakan Persaudaraan Pemuda (Gema) Keadilan. Gema Keadilan, which was founded on September 1, 2005, is an underbow organization that seeks to accommodate, embrace, and facilitate the potential of young people. Gema Keadilan is a place for young people to learn to organize, socialize, interact with each other, and express their creativity. Through Gema Keadilan, PKS hopes that the younger generation can learn politics earlier, so that they can be more mature when they become leaders in the future.
3. Garuda Keadilan
4. Garuda Keadilan is a PKS youth underbow organization that was founded in March 2012, in Garuda Keadilan gathered young people from a group of youth and student organizations that have Islamic ideology and are based on tarbiyah. Garuda Keadilan gathers young people who want to work together with PKS to advance the nation. Garuda Keadilan conducts several routine activities such as leadership training, personal capacity building, student involvement in cooperative activities.
5. PKS Muda
6. PKS Muda is one of the underbow organizations whose movement was initiated to maximize all available resources to mobilize and foster youth groups. The existence of PKS Muda as an underbow organization aims to emphasize the image of PKS as a youth party, a party that is comfortable for young people to develop their talents and express themselves. PKS Muda encourages the millennial generation to be more productive and develop their talents and interests by taking advantage of friendships between PKS Muda members or cadres.
Internal Party Conflict
As a political institution, Partai Keadilan Sejahtera like other political parties, is a collection of a single entity that has various political views and interests. The shock of internal conflict in PKS emerged, one of which was the difference in views and interests of the political actors within it.
The faction phenomenon occurred in PKS, which began to appear to the public since the 2004 period and peaked in the 2015 period. Various political events recorded in the public indicate the existence of conflicts within the party's body. The factions that appeared in the party were (the Keadilan Faction and the Sejahtera Faction). The Keadilan Faction is a group that contains party seniors, also known as conservative or idealist groups. Several senior figures became the motor of this faction. Meanwhile, the opposing group, or the Sejahtera Faction, is a liberal or pragmatic group fronted by young party figures.
This phenomenon that occurs within the PKS party can be explained due to internal factors. The internal factors that influence these are the ideological values and elite leadership patterns. Ideological values are reflected in the differences in views between conservative groups (Keadilan Faction) and liberal groups (Sejahtera Faction). Young or liberal groups that have emerged in the Sejahtera Faction carry the New Direction of Indonesia (new concept in the state). This concept opens up space for party cadres to freely express opinions. It is a form of freedom to view Indonesia from another angle.
These ideological differences eventually formed the elite leadership pattern in PKS. The elite leadership pattern within the PKS party became the trigger for conflict between existing factions. This was marked by differences in views between the Party Secretary General and the Chief of the Syuro Council. The chairman of Majelis Syuro has full control over party cadres who become ministers and other public officials. This situation is also referred to as closed party management. This contradicts the Secretary General who wants an open party management.
As a result of the conflict between these factions, some lost and some won, resulting in the emergence of a new movement driven by cadres who were dismissed from the party. They created a new political organization that accommodated faction loyalists. The organization was named the Gerakan Arah Baru Indonesia (GARBI). In other words, the Sejahtera Faction that was previously in PKS, is now leaving and forming a new organization. This organization will certainly be a threat to PKS in the dynamics of national politics.
The internal conflict that dragged on from 2004 to 2019 shows that so far the efforts to resolve conflicts have been unsuccessful in reducing divisions within the party. The party consolidation efforts that have been carried out so far have not reached an agreement. Differences in views that are difficult to accommodate by both sides have caused separation to be the only effort to resolve conflicts.
From the findings it is also known that during the conflict within the PKS, it did not involve parties outside the party to act as the mediator. Efforts to resolve conflicts without involving outside parties are becoming very difficult. When the Keadilan Faction holds an elite position in the party structure, it ensures that the Sejahera Faction must follow the decisions taken by the Keadilan Faction, because these decisions are considered as party decisions. This encourages the choice of whether to follow the party's decision, in other words the decision of the Keadilan Faction, or not to follow with the consequences of leaving the party.
During the 2004-2019 period, it can be seen that the consolidation efforts carried out internally by the PKS party took a long time. During those nearly 15 years, there was no conflict resolution that accommodated the interests of the two factions in PKS. This can be seen from the disagreement between the Sejahtera Faction and the National Leadership Council (DPP) PKS policy. The Sejahtera Faction believes that the National Leadership Council (DPP) PKS decision is more about putting pressure on them. This condition causes the implementation of conflict resolution within the PKS party to be difficult to achieve.
The Political Attitude of the Under bow Organization During the Internal Conflict Ahead of the 2019 Election
Under bow Organizational Ideology
Sofar, PKS as a party known foritsc a dreprocess continue stostriveto grow and maintain the ideology of its members in several under bow organizations. Chairman of the Gema Keadilan, Akbar Zulfakar, saidthat PKS internalizes, socializes, and cultivatesthe ideology of under bow members through fostering party regeneration and training in organizational training.
In thecaseof internal conflictsthatoccurred in PKS, whichlaterledtotheexitof a numberof PKS elitesbyforming a newpoliticalparty, atfirstit was feared that the pragmatism of under bow cadreswouldemerge. The dynamics that occur between party elites with in the PKS, directly or indirectly, affect the political attitude of the underbow. Competing for influence in gaining the trust and political support of the under bow for the conflicting factions is an important thing, because the under bow is an important part of representing the grass roots party base.
Direct influence canbe felt if the political base in the regions, the under bow organization is used to lead certain discourses that are used to strengthen the position of an individual or a groupo felites. In addition, the under bow organization will act according to the will of certainelites. Then, the indirect influence can be felt on the perceptions of the base and constituents on the political stability of the party, so that it has an impact on reducing the spirit or solidity of the team in fighting for party interests. The chairman of Garuda Keadilan, Syafiq Fadlu Rahman, explained that there was an offer to side with and support certain factions either directly or indirectly through joint activities and other politicall obbying.
Furthermore, in examining the underbow's attitude towards party internal conflicts ahead of the 2019 Election, the researcher saws everalpossibilities in an ideological approach. First, if the party's internal conflictis an ideological issue, then as a PKS cadreparty, the Under bow organization will respond to the issue, because it relates to the party's ideological basis. Second, if this conflict is an ideological issue, but there sponse from the under bow organization is low, then there is a shift in the motive of the PKS movement, from da'wah party with an Islamic basis, to a pragmatic party with a mere power orientation, or an ideological value in PKS which is starting to below. Third, the reisan interesting political culture in conflict management within PKS, allcadres of the party, including the under bow organization, hand over these affairs at the central level, do not extend to the regions, so that there is no massive split with in the PKS.
Under bow Organizational Interaction
It is undeniable that interaction with external parties can provide a different perspective for PKS under bow members in responding to conflicts, especially ahead of the 2019 Election. However, informants who have been interviewed, such as the Chairman of Garuda Keadilan and Gema Keadilan, stated that the process of their interaction with outside parties or with friends who are in other party under bows does not make them feel siding with one faction. According to informants, the existence of a process of interaction with parties outside the party can provide them with a less on and understanding that internal conflicts faced by parties need to be treated as a necessity. The informants also said that the dynamics that occurred in the PKS party were also experienced by otherpolitical parties.
From the information conveyed by the two informants, this study analyzes that the process of interaction with external parties adds to a process of understanding that differences in views and conflicts within parties are natural and have become dynamic in organization, conflictc an also occur with in any party. This conflict can arise because of differences in implementing winning strategies in elections as well as different perspectives in translating party ideology, in other words that conflicts within parties are not always caused by differences in ideology with in the party.
The PKS under bow organization when the reisan internal conflictt riest oposition it self according to the party's ideological line and avoids thetug of war of interests which is deemed to be able to break solidity, especially ahead of the 2019 Election. The stages of resolving differences built with in the party are carried out through deliberation by prioritizing the values and persuasive approaches that apply in the party. These approaches include the brotherhood approach,the coaching approach, and the organizational approach. These three things are seen as the basis for the interaction built by internal parties when there is an internal conflict.
Under bow interaction can also be seen from how the patterns of relationships are built with conflicting sides. Under bow continues to build communication with sides that disagree with the party's decision. Here it can be seen that the under bow tends to follow the decisions made by the party but still embraces those who are opposed to the party's decisions. This relationship is based on the underbow's attitude which emphasizes solidity with in theparty.
Considering Future Internal Conflict Trends
Consideration of trends that will occur in the future, it is presumed that stability and changes in political attitudes do not only consider trends in the past, but also trends in the future. The Partai Keadilan Sejahtera realizes that in order to achieve future glories as aspired by the Islamic movement, it is necessary to developan integral, gradual and continuous frame work of movement.
Internal party problems that were feared would spread to the under bow organization with in the PKS, but were later denied by the Chairman of Garuda Keadilan and the Chairman of Gema Keadilan, they were of the opinion that as an under bow it has an important role, especially in running the wheel soft he party and being affiliated with the party. Even if there are differences in the political count, it is still channeled to the party and what the party decides is the under bow agenda. Seeing the conflicts that have occurred within PKS, Under bow will follow and see the conditions that will occur in the future. Conflicts caused by differences in interestsatthe top of the party leadership also extend to every level of party cadres. Underbow has historically been in line with the establishment of the party and is still strong and remains with the party.
In the results of interviews with informants, the Chairman of Gema Keadilan and the Chairman of Garuda Keadilan, explained that the party's internal conflictdid not prevent the under bow from changing, but it could still support the party's vision and mission. Even the member soft he under bow did not try to interfere more deeply in the conflict with in the party elite. The Chairman of Gema Keadilan and Garuda Keadilan shared the same view that the under bow must be more independent, solid and more mature. Its existence must be able to contribute to the party's victory. Not only as a symbol and only for the benefit of thegroup.
For the Under bow Organization of PKS, even thought here are differences in views among party leaders,what they think is important and must be done is how the party in the future needs to see and consider trends that will occur in the future, and they see that the young ergeneration must have the opportunity to build party organization. Based on what was observed, PKS is currently trying to accommodate the interests of its young cadres to be involved in central management activities. The emergence of young cadres who were previously active in the under bow in the National Leadership Council DPP PKS management was considered a necessity, because the party needed young cadres to push for a change after the occurrence of internal conflicts. Rejection of the change itself will cause problems, as long as the change does not change the ideological basis of the party in the political arena.
On a practical basis, in managinganideologicalpartybase, cadres are required to recruit and expand party networks, and regular guidance is needed so that ideological values can be preserved. Apart from that, another important thing is the role model the elite gives to its base, so that party ideology can be preserved. Then, parties need to be responsive in responding to political dynamics and the times, without eliminating party ideology as the basis of movement. Although this idea seems abstract and uto pian, in an ideological approach it is important to do so, so that the party ideologyisal ways maintained.
The interaction that is built on the conflicting sides is in the form of a persuasive approach. In a sense, under bow seeks to bridge the interests of conflicting parties by putting forward party decisions which are decisions that must be shared. This persuasive approach is translated into interactions that do not address the issue of ideological differences that occur with in the party. In addition to building relationships orinte ractions with conflicting internal parties, the under bow also interacts with otherparties outside the party. External partiesalso try to provide inputrelated to conflicts that occur with in the party's internal. However, theunderbowis not affected by the input from external parties. Under bow remains committed to internal party consolidation.
In responding to the trend of party internal conflict, the under bow has the view that the under bow must be more independent, solid and more mature to look to the future in order to help the party's sustainability. The existence of the under bow must be able to contribute to the party's victory. In addition, the young ergeneration must have the opportunity to build a party organization. The involvement of young cadresis considered a necessity, because parties need young cadres to push for a change after the occurrence of internal conflicts.