The latest draft of the bill stipulates that former HTI members cannot run in any kind of electoral contest, either at the regional or national level, and all election candidates must formally present a letter from the police proving that they have no association with HTI or any other banned organization.

The draft bill, which revises and codifies three prevailing election-related laws, also explicitly singles out the long-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) for the ban, further depriving its former members of the right to run for public office.

The 2017 Elections Law prohibits former PKI members from running for president and vice president but not for legislative elections at the national and local levels. The Regional Elections Law, which regulates the elections of governor, regents and mayors, does not contain the ban.

Election observers criticized the provision, with Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) researcher Fadli Ramadhanil saying, “Banning former members of certain organizations could encourage [discrimination].”

Commission II lawmakers have sent the draft document to the House's Legislative Body (Baleg), which will offer suggestions and scrutinize the draft to ensure it is aligned with other laws.

It will be formalized as a final draft of a bill listed under the House's initiative after a vote in a plenary session. However, the bill’s deliberation and passing into law might take years depending on how complicated the discussions are.

Lawmakers were quick to say that the plan was not yet final and was pending deliberation with the government.

Read also: HTI turns to MK to annul Perppu on mass organizations

Commission II deputy chairman Saan Mustopa from the NasDem Party said the draft had been made following an internal discussion among commission members, declining to reveal which House factions had proposed the provision on former HTI members.

Lawmaker Guspardi Gaus from the National Mandate Party (PAN) said the inclusion of the controversial provision was because the HTI had been declared a "forbidden organization" by the government in 2017.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration used the controversial Mass Organization Law — amended in 2017 to allow the disbandment of prohibited organizations without a court ruling — to ban the HTI on the grounds that its activities allegedly contravened state ideology Pancasila and the Constitution. The HTI later challenged the decision at court but lost the case.

A similar argument was used by the government in justifying a recent ban of the hardline Islam Defenders Front (FPI) and its activities, in what experts said was another sign of democratic backsliding in the country.

Read also: Crackdown on FPI sets off alarm bells

The FPI is not included in the draft bill because it had been prepared before the government outlawed the controversial group on Dec. 30 last year, according to Saan. He declined to comment on whether the stripping of former HTI members’ political rights might also be extended to former FPI members.

“We will see later. During the deliberation process [with the government], we could further discuss the provision,” Saan said, pointing out that alignment with Pancasila was considered “nonnegotiable'' by the commission.

Monash University emeritus professor Ariel Heryanto warned that systematically banning certain ideologies could have a wide repercussion, pointing to the anticommunist campaign that targeted people thought to be associated with the PKI in the New Order era.

“More than a quarter-century after 1965, many victims were punished because of their [alleged] association with the PKI, just because they had parents, grandparents or relatives who 10 or 20 years before had been punished under the accusation of their ‘association with the PKI’ without proof or trial,” Ariel said.

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