On Wednesday, a joint ministerial decree (SKB) was issued by the home, law and human rights, and communications and information ministers, the Attorney General, the National Police chief and the head of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT).

“The government bans FPI activities and will stop any events organized by the FPI because it no longer has legal grounds either as a mass organization or as any other kind of organization,” Coordinating Political, Law and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD said in a televised statement on Wednesday.

He was referring to a June 20, 2019 deadline that the FPI failed to meet to extend its organizational registration permit (SKT) with the Home Ministry. "[Since then] the FPI, by law, has no longer been a mass organization,” Mahfud said.

“But institutionally, the FPI continued to hold activities that disturbed public order and security and was involved in activities that were in violation of the law such as violence, sweeping [illegal raids], incitement and other matters.”

The decision was the latest crack down on the organization, following the killing of six FPI members on a toll road near Jakarta and the subsequent arrest of FPI leader Rizieq Shihab.

The police argued that the killings was done in self-defense because the FPI members attacked them first.

However, media reports including by Tempo magazine, have quoted witnesses that indicate the killings were not in self-defense.

Some civil society organizations have called on the government to form an independent team to investigate the police claims but the government has said it will not form any fact-finding team.

Mahfud instructed all officials from the central government and the regional administrations to no longer permit any future FPI events.

The government has been at loggerheads with the FPI in recent weeks following a series of public order and security snafus centered around the return of group leader Rizieq from self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia.

The FPI has been notorious for its unlawful raids on nightclubs, bars and restaurants, especially during the fasting month of Ramadan. In 2016, for example, FPI members raided shopping malls in Surabaya, East Java, to check whether outlets were forcing employees to wear Christmas attire such as Santa hats.

The FPI also played a crucial role in the 212 movement, which was triggered by a statement by former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama in 2016, which it regarded as an insult to Islam.

On Tuesday, South Jakarta District Court made a decision to cancel the police order to drop an investigation into Rizieq’s alleged violation of pornography laws. The court opened the case based on a lawsuit, represented by a lawyer named Febriyanto, according to kompas.com.

In June 2018, Rizieq claimed that the police had stopped investigating the case.

Rizieq is currently being detained for allegedly violating health protocols through a series of mass gatherings held in November.

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