Old law shields violent group FPI from sanctions

Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi says the Law on Mass Organizations is outdated and is preventing the ministry from taking action against violent and vigilante groups.

Gamawan urged the House to speed its protracted deliberations on revising the law.

“The sanctions against violent mass organizations in the 1985 law are too complicated, time consuming and not efficient [to impose]. I want this law to be amended to accommodate simpler procedures to take decisive actions against violent mass organizations,” Gamawan said on Monday.

While the minister maintained that the revision was driven by necessity, critics claimed that Fauzi was responding to
public pressure to disband groups, such as the hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI), whose members have frequently engaged in violence and vigilantism.

Meanwhile, several NGOs have opposed revising the law, fearing a threat to their constitutional rights or interference with law-abiding civil society organizations.

Gamawan dismissed naysayers, claiming a revised law would better protect people’s right to assembly and the freedom of speech.

On a separate issue, the minister said he supported Central Kalimantan Governor Agustin Teras Narang’s efforts to broker a dialog following an incident involving the FPI over the weekend.

“I heard that the governor will hold a forum involving local religious leaders, representatives from customary groups and the Indonesian Ulema Council to respond the incident. I think that will be a good step and I support it,” Gamawan, who was previously West Sumatra governor, said.

Gamawan referred to events on Saturday, when hundreds of members of the local Dayak community stormed the runway at Tjilik Riwut Airport in Palangkaraya to block the arrival of four FPI members who came to Central Kalimantan to inaugurate a local branch.

As the crowd rallied on the tarmac, airport management ordered the FPI members to remain on board their Sriwijaya Air flight while other passengers disembarked.

The FPI members were not allowed to disembark and then flown directly to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.

Separately, the FPI filed a report with the National Police over the incident on Monday.

In their complaint, the FPI alleged that four men — the governor; Lukas Tingkes, a relative of the governor; and local youth activists Yansen Binti and Sabran Sukron conspired to organize the airport protest to cover up what they said were “local crimes”.

“The masses have threatened to kill us here in the same place they burned down a stage that was provided for us by those who invited us,” Munarman of the FPI said.

Munarman, a former director of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH), also claimed that he had evidence proving that the FPI
members were blocked from visiting Central Kalimantan to stop the group from aiding local residents whose indigenous land had been seized by private companies linked to Governor Agustin.