TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo said he will take legal action against those wanting to change the national ideology. “Those who violate the law will be prosecuted,” Jokowi yesterday said during a meeting with mass media executives at the Presidential Palace, Central Jakarta.
On Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), Jokowi said that he is aware that the organization has drawn up legislations to change the national ideology and establish a caliphate in the country. According to him, the Coordinating Minister Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto had studied the legal procedures to impose on the HTI. “It’s not [planned] in one month or two,” Jokowi said.
Minister Wiranto announced the government’s plan to disband HTI last week.
The mass organization with a legal entity status is seen as a threat to public order and national unity. However, some have warned that the government could violate the constitution and may lack legal grounds to do so.
Wiranto yesterday called on the public not to overreact over the plan. “No need to debate about it. We’ll see how the legal process goes,” he said in Jakarta. “The government will definitely take an appropriate legal action to materialize the plan.”
The minister said that the government will not only disband the HTI but also any organization who opposes the national principles Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, the national motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) and those wanting to dissolve the Republic of Indonesia.
The HTI spokesman Ismail Yusanto rejects the plan to disband the organization. “The government has never given us any warning. If things continue like this, we will take a legal action,” he said.
DIKO OKTARA | AZ