HTI affirms it’s a political party

Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) has declared itself a political party, albeit one yet to be directly involved in national and regional elections.

“Hizbut Tahrir is an Islamic political party. We have been a political party since long ago,” Muhammad Ismail Yusanto, HTI spokesperson said Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.

He said that political parties had four interrelated functions: education, articulation, aggregation and representation.

“The only one we haven’t implemented in Indonesia is the fourth function, representation. That’s more of formality, such as registering with the Law and Human Rights Ministry,” Ismail said.

He declined to say when HTI would formally register as a political party.