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FPI's future in question as permit expires
Calls have been mounting for the Home Ministry not to extend the FPI’s permit, with an online petition having garnered more than 480,000 signatures as of Wednesday since being created on May 6. The petition refers to the FPI as a “radical group that supports violence”.
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Members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) crowd an Ahmadiyah mosque in Depok, West Java. (JP/Bagas Rahadian)
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he Islam Defender’s Front’s (FPI) permit as a mass organization expired on Thursday, with the Home Ministry yet to approve an extension amid growing calls from the public for the government to disband the hardline group infamous for its religiously motivated violence.
The Home Ministry’s director for mass organizations, Lutfi, said his office had not received a request for a permit extension from the FPI as of Thursday, but did not rule out the possibility that the group could still submit an application.
“It is their right as a mass organization to decide whether to request a permit extension or not. The Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that mass organizations are not required to register with the government. However, unregistered organizations won’t be facilitated by the government,” Lutfi told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Registered mass organizations have access to government-run capacity-building programs, as stipulated in Law No. 16/2017 on mass organizations, while Lutfi added that they could also receive social assistance funds from local administrations.
The law does not impose sanctions on mass organizations that fail to extend their permits, nor does it set a time-limit for the submission of such requests. However, Lutfi expressed hope the FPI would apply to extend its permit.
“Outside the context [of the FPI], we want mass organizations to register [with us], because it will be difficult if they are not in the system. We need to guide them [...] to maintain order,” he said, adding that mass organizations were required “without argument” to adhere to the state ideology Pancasila.
If the FPI submits an extension request, Lutfi said the ministry would evaluate the group, including its track-record, over 15 days before deciding whether to issue a permit extension.
