T

he Indonesian Ulema Council'€™s (MUI) East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) chapter has rejected the plan by Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) to hold a halal bihalal (Idul Fitri friendship meeting) at the Kupang Grand Mosque.

The council argued that such a meeting, which was planned for Aug. 9, would only disturb interfaith harmony which had been so well established in the region.

'€œMUI NTT firmly rejects all activities of HTI in the province. We don'€™t want them to disturb the interfaith harmony here,'€ chairman of MUI NTT, Abdul Kadir Makarim, told reporters on Thursday.

Abdul said that the vision and mission of HTI, which is known for its campaign to establish an Islamic caliphate, differed from that of the organizations under MUI.

MUI NTT, he said, called on all Muslims in the province not to join in activities conducted by HTI.

'€œThe Tolikara case in Papua should be taught as a valuable lesson to all of us in NTT. We must continue to maintain harmony,'€ he said, referring to the incident in which several kiosks were burned down and the fire spread to a mosque after a riot broke out between Muslims and Christians.

A similar rejection of the presence of HTI and its activities in NTT was also expressed by members of the National Alliance Ady William Frith Ndiy.

'€œPancasila is final. There is no room for anyone to replace it with another law or the teaching of any particular religion. Subverting Pancasila is the same as considering the state an enemy and the enemy of the state is our enemy,'€ Ady said.

Kupang City Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Budi Hermawan said that he would not grant permission for HTI NTT to hold a halal bihalal on Aug. 9.

He argued that HTI NTT had not yet been registered at the Provincial National Unity, Politics and People Protection (Kesbangpolinmas) agency, meaning that it was not yet an official organization in the province.

'€œWe have yet to receive a proposal (on halal bihalal), but we will not let them have one. This is for the sake of interfaith harmony in Kupang,'€ Budi said.

Separately, HTI NTT'€™s chairman Said Made Amin declined to comment. '€œThere is no need to write [a report]. We are still working on permission for the event,'€ he said.

HTI NTT had previously planned to hold a grand carnival to commemorate Isra Mira'€™raj (the Ascension of Prophet Muhammad) in Kupang in May of this year. The plan was turned down by local students and communities naming themselves the National Alliance.

The alliance consists of Indonesian National University Student Movement (GMNI), Netherland Indonesian Christian Church (GKIN), Evangelical Church Youth in Timor (GMIT) Horeb, Indonesian Catholic Student Youth Forum (Fopemkri), Laskar Merah Putih, Anshor Youth Movement NTT, Anak Bermusik NTT and Brigade Meo.