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A more inclusive, progressive Islamist party? New political nemesis emerges for PKS
Garbi is the brainchild of former PKS chairman Anis Matta, who failed to get a second term during the party’s congress in 2015.
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The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) was established in 1998 by members of the tarbiyah (education) or dakwah (religious propagation) movement inspired by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. The movement thrived on the campuses of state universities in the 1980s. (Courtesy of/PKSFoto Jakarta)
A
new mass organization led by senior members of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) could soon become the political nemesis of the increasingly divided Islamist party.
The organization, founded in October last year, has chosen a more nationalistic moniker, Gerakan Arah Indonesia Baru (Garbi), or Indonesia’s New Direction Movement, and has portrayed itself as “more inclusive” and “more progressive” than the PKS.
The group has gained traction in recent months. It has set up branches in Jakarta and several major cities in West Java, East Java, Bali, Banten, Sumatra and South Sulawesi.
With a growing number of executive branches in major provinces and regencies, analysts say Garbi is poised to become a new political party targeting the emerging Muslim middle classes in urban areas.
Such a scenario would spell trouble for the PKS, which pollsters say is already facing an existential crisis in this year’s election, with its polling hovering below the 4-percent threshold needed to take part in the next election.
Garbi is the brainchild of former PKS chairman Anis Matta, who failed to get a second term during the party’s congress in 2015. He was replaced by Sohibul Iman, who is said to have purged Anis’ men from the party’s leadership.
For a long time, the party is said to have been divided into two factions: the “prosperous” faction led by Anis and the “justice” faction led by Hilmi Aminuddin and his allies, including Sohibul.
