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week after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo issued a controversial regulation in lieu of law (Perppu), his efforts to introduce a way to disband mass organizations opposed to the state ideology of Pancasila are meeting resistance from Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), the group many believe is the main target of the Perppu.

Arguing that several articles in the Perppu were open to different interpretation and violated the Constitution, the HTI, which has been supporting the idea for the establishment of a global caliphate, filed a request for a judicial review challenging the Perppu at the Constitutional Court (MK).

For the petition, the group has teamed up with lawyer Yusril Ihza Mahendra, who has won several major legal battles.

“We are challenging provisions we consider vague, particularly the one that allows the disbandment of mass organizations on the grounds that they have ideas opposing Pancasila,” Yusril said after submitting the documents to the MK on Tuesday afternoon.

Replacing the 2013 Law on Mass Organizations, the Perppu was signed by Jokowi last week to grant his administration the power to disband mass organizations without judicial process, which rights campaigners fear is prone to abuse. Under the 2013 law, the government had to seek a court ruling to ban any organization it deemed opposed to Pancasila and the Constitution.

The Perppu also expands the definition of anti-Pancasila ideologies, which earlier only refered to atheism, Marxism and Leninism.

With the petition the group wants to demonstrate legal resistance to the government’s decision in a move that, according to HTI spokesman Ismail Yusanto, has gained support from other Islamic organizations.

Only the HTI, however, was ready to file the petition and showed up at the MK on Tuesday.

“The others perhaps will join later [when the judicial review starts to roll] or make their own request,” Ismail said.

The HTI has also tried to persuade the House of Representatives to reject the Perppu, which still needs a formal endorsement from the House even though it took effect as soon as it was issued by the President.

Before going to the MK, Ismail, along with representatives of other Islamic groups, went to the House and met with House deputy speaker Fadli Zon from the Gerindra Party. “[There] we asked the lawmakers to reject it [so it won’t become a new law],” Ismail said.

Meanwhile, Yusril also questioned whether the Perppu was issued in response to an “emergency” situation, a requirement for the government to issue a Perppu. “It’s been a week since the Perppu was issued, yet we haven’t seen the government ban any organization,” he said.

A Perppu can be an object of legal dispute at the MK since a petition against a Perppu was brought before the MK in 2009. At the time, the court confirmed that it could hear a judicial review against any Perppu.

The HTI’s move comes only a day after 17 lawyers grouped under the Indonesian Advocate Organization filed a similar petition against the Perppu they believe could pose a threat to democracy and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.

“The Perppu is unlike the 2003 law, which sets detailed and comprehensive conditions for the government to disband any organization seen as threatening. Such measures in the 2003 law respect the right of freedom of association,” Virza Roy Hizzal, a lawyer representing the advocate group, said in a separate interview. (kuk)