Transition of Cadre Pattern of The Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS): Adaptation of PKS Strategy Ahead of the Simultaneous Election in The Bandung Region

The purpose of this research is to try to analyze the maneuvers of the Prosperous Justice Party (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera, PKS) in the contestation of the general election, where on the one hand, PKS carries the title of “Islam” which tends to be rigid, while on the other hand the political battle arena requires pragmatism, so the author tries to see the PKS transition in the regeneration process. In contrast to the PKS vote at the national level which is fairly stagnant at 7-8%, PKS in its mass base is actually quite dominant, and is even able to disrupt the existence of nationalist parties that have been subscribed to winning legislative elections in previous periods. So it becomes an important question, why PKS is so stable and even aggressive in the regions, but tends to be sluggish in the national vote. What kind of strategy is supposed to encourage PKS to be so hegemonic and dominant in its mass base. This research uses Peter Schroder’s theory of Political Marketing theory and uses a qualitative method with a case study approach. The results showed that although PKS slowly began to open itself up in the cadre recruitment process and began to leave Arabic-Middle Eastern specific terms such as Liqo and Halaqah, which were later replaced by more general terms such as Member Development Unit (Unit Pembinaan Anggota, UPA), PKS did not abandon its conventional regeneration process which was tight. PKS still conducts grouping regeneration by relying on Murabbi as a mentor. Murabbi was assigned by elected council members and PKS figures who had won the contest. When other parties focus on recruiting public figures for instant electability, PKS in the four Greater Bandung areas modifies its strategy by recruiting community leaders such as MSME leaders and Pesantren owners. However, the vote acquisition was not as significant as the recruitment of artist cadres.