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ast Nusa Tenggara (NTT) authorities have officially banned Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) from conducting any activities in the province arguing that the organization spreads a radical ideology.

If HTI continued conducting activities in the predominantly Catholic province, the executives of the organization would be tried in court, an official said.

'€œWe have issued an official letter banning HTI from conducting any activity in NTT,'€ NTT National Unity, Politics and Community Protection (Kesbangpol Limnas) Agency head Sisilia Sona told reporters in Kupang on Thursday.

Sisilia said that her office had banned the organization from operating in NTT but it was disregarded. That accounted for why HTI executives signed statements agreeing not to conduct any activity in the province during a meeting on Thursday, she said.

The move, Sisilia said, was to maintain security and order in NTT as interfaith relations in the province had been harmonious so far.

Apart from that, she said, the ideology that HTI spread was clearly against the principles of the state ideology Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, the Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Diversity in Harmony) state slogan and the Unitary Nation of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) as the four pillars that unite the nation.

In almost all activities HTI campaigns for implementation of sharia and an Islamic caliphate system.

'€œWe hope the police officers can act firmly if HTI continues to conduct any form of activity,'€ said Sisilia, adding that although the organization had been in the province since 2013, the provincial administration never issued them with a license.

Kupang City Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Budi Hermawan separately said that the statements for not conducting activities in NTT were signed by HTI'€™s NTT branch chairman Said Made Amin and Kupang city branch chairman Suryadi.

Budi said both chairmen were once held at Kupang city police'€™s headquarter after dozens grouped as '€œBrigade Meo'€, flocked the organization'€™s secretariat in Oesapa subdistrict. The mob forcefully removed the name board of the secretariat and banned the organization from conducting activities.

Kupang city residents, according to Budi, had banned HTI from conducting two planned activities, namely a grand parade and a halal bihalal (post-Idul Fitri) gathering.

'€œWe hope HTI executives obey the statement and agreement. If they violate it, we will process them legally,'€ Budi said.

Brigade Meo chairman Priest Ady Ndiy said that the people had come to HTI secretariat and told both executives to remove the name board.

Ady said it was done to avoid tension in the community as both chairmen still actively conducted activities at the time people aggressively disagreed with HTI'€™s presence in the region.

Earlier, The Indonesian Ulema Council'€™s of NTT chapter rejected the HTI'€™s plan to hold the halal bihalal meeting.