Indonesia passes law to ban organisations deemed hostile to state ideology and which ‘create social conflict’
Rights activists and civil organisations have decried the move, saying it harks back to the era of authoritarian ruler Suharto
About 1,000 Indonesians, led by hardline Islamist groups, protested outside parliament on Tuesday as lawmakers approved a presidential decree banning any civil organisations deemed to contradict the country’s secular state ideology.
Tuesday’s approval puts into law a policy President Joko Widodo set in a decree in July. The policy was aimed at containing hardline groups who have cast a shadow over the long-standing reputation for religious tolerance in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.
“We have seen mass organisations that are against the Pancasila [state ideology] and have created social conflict,” said Arya Bima, a lawmaker in favour of the policy. “This law doesn’t impede freedom of organisation or assembly, it strengthens it.”
In late 2016 and early this year, groups such as Hizb-ut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) and the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), which call for Islamic law to be imposed in Indonesia, led mass street rallies attacking Jakarta’s governor, a Christian, whom they accused of insulting Islam.
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who in April lost an election to get a new term, was jailed one month later after being convicted of blasphemy, in a court ruling widely criticised in Indonesia and overseas as unjust.
This law doesn’t impede freedom of organisation or assembly, it strengthens it
The presidential decree Widodo signed in July ordered the disbanding of all organisations deemed to be in conflict with the secular state ideology. HTI, which seeks to establish an Islamic caliphate, was the first organisation to be disbanded under the policy.