TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Dipo Alam, Cabinet Secretary of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), said the FPI is not registered as a mass organization, and said that it was only a gathering forum. "To be clear, FPI has not been registered as a mass organization at the Directorate General for National and Political Unity," Dipo said at Presidential palace, Wednesday, July 24.
Due to its status, Dipo said it would be difficult to freeze the FPI despite public pressure.
"Home Affairs Ministry [we are] not registered as an organization, what is to be frozen?" Dipo asked.
Albeit not being a mass organization, Dipo supports law enforcement efforts against all acts of violence, including those committed by FPI members. "Anyone who commits vigilantism and breaking the law--please punish them," he said.
FPI spokesman, Muchsin Alatas, responded to public's pressure to disband the organization by saying that they will do so under the condition that the authority are firm.
"FPI will disband itself if the law is properly enforced by officials and state officials," Muhsin said on Tuesday.
On Thursday last week, a clash broke between members of the FPI with residents of Sukorejo, Kendal, Central Java. The incident led to a motorcyclist being killed after being hit by a car driven by FPI members. Locals burnt down the car and destroyed three other cars.
The clash was presumably triggered by FPI members' raiding a prostitution area in Sukorejo. A day earlier, they had also raided a number of red light districts in Sukorejo.
PRIHANDOKO
