Civil society groups earlier voiced concern that the government’s unilateral move went against the principles of democracy and the rule of law, as it did not involve the courts, and that it set a bad precedent that could further curtail freedom of assembly and association.

A researcher has cautioned that, as a violent group that mobilized Islamic rhetoric and identity, the FPI would exist as long as Indonesia continued to maintain an “illiberal democracy” characterized by the relative absence of the rule of law and the widespread use of violence, including violence by non-state actors.

“It is impossible to dissolve an ideology. People will stick to what they believe in, even if [expressing it] is forbidden by the authorities,” sociologist Abdil Mughis Mudhoffir, a postdoctoral visiting researcher at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday. “In fact, repressive methods will generate public sympathy and make [its] members more militant in fighting for what they believe in.”

Abdil added that vigilante groups garnered support from the “militant lower class”, which they responded to directly by tapping into the anxieties of the urban poor and the unemployed, while they had also proven useful for the elite.

Read also: Government bans FPI activities

The government on Dec. 30, 2020 issued a joint ministerial decree banning the hardline group and its activities on the grounds that its organizational license had expired, it had engaged in vigilantism, its statute contradicted the Pancasila state ideology and some of its members had been implicated in terrorism. Under the decree, signed by six senior officials including the home minister and the National Police chief, the FPI became the latest mass organization or movement to be banned in Indonesia for contradicting Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution.

The government has banned some organizations and movements, including Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) in 2017.

And only hours after the government outlawed the FPI, its executives announced the establishment of a new Islamic organization, also called the FPI for Front Persatuan Islam (United Islamic Front).

Burhanuddin Muhtadi, the executive director of political research and survey institute Indikator Politik Indonesia, said the government had overreacted and actually contributed to the FPI’s rise from a vigilante group to an organization with political clout.

“It’s like shooting an ant with a bazooka,” Burhanuddin told the Post, also on Sunday. He also pointed out that the government had merely banned the organization, which would be ineffective, instead of addressing the group’s Islamist ideology that promoted violence.

Instead of dissolving the organization, he said the government should have responded by enforcing the law through the police, which could act on the FPI’s alleged violations.

"But so far, there have been many [missed opportunities]. When FPI [sympathizers] harassed the Ahmadiyah community or committed many acts of hate speech and raids [targeting minorities], the police were silent and the state was absent," Burhanuddin noted.

The FPI, which has its own militant unit called the Laskar FPI, emerged at the end of the New Order regime when then-president Soeharto led a crackdown on political Islam movements. The Islamist group was established three months after Soeharto's downfall in May 1998 under Rizieq Shihab. It was later reported that the military had flirted with the group as a means of maintaining power and political foothold.

Since its formation, the group has become known for its unlawful raids on brothels, bars and nightclubs, particularly during the Ramadhan fasting month, as well as its campaigns against communism and Zionism. It is also notorious for its attacks against religious minorities and any movement it perceives to be a violation of Islamic norms, including Ahmadiyah Muslim and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities.

Read also: Hard-liners ambush Monas rally

In 2008, FPI members attacked and injured dozens of activists at a peaceful rally promoting religious tolerance at the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta. Then and in the following years, the administration of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono failed to address the issue of hardline Islamic groups employing mob violence, in particular the FPI that had threatened to topple him.

Most famously, the FPI played a significant role in mobilizing its supporters in mass protests ahead of the 2017 gubernatorial election that accused then-Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama of blasphemy, which ultimately crushed his reelection bid. The pressure from the protests was a big blow to the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, especially following his ally Ahok's defeat to his rival Anies Baswedan in the Jakarta election.

Since then, the Jokowi administration has clashed with the organization on various occasions. In 2017, the National Police charged Rizieq in a pornography case and for allegedly insulting Pancasila, but the firebrand cleric fled the country to Saudi Arabia where he remained for three years in self-professed exile.

Read also: Rizieq returns amid Islamic political upturn

Rizieq returned to Indonesia last November and promptly became embroiled in controversy, when thousands of his followers flocked to the airport to welcome his return and held mass gatherings in blatant disregard of the coronavirus restrictions. The cleric also hosted and attended events that reportedly violated the government’s COVID-19 health protocols, most notably a wedding reception for his daughter on Nov. 14.

As Rizieq continued to evade a police summons for questioning in connection with the November gatherings, tensions escalated on Dec. 7 when Jakarta Police shot dead six FPI members while tailing a convoy of vehicles carrying the cleric on a toll road in Karawang, West Java.

Rizieq finally turned himself in on Dec. 12 to police custody, where he remains to date.