The Indonesian government has banned Hizbut Tahrir, an organisation that wants to establish a global caliphate. Director General of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights,Freddy Haris, said Hizbut’s legal status had been revoked to protect national unity.
The decree signed last week by President Joko Widodo gives the government an unfettered power to ban organisations deemed against the constitution and the official state ideology known as Pancasila, which enshrines democracy and social justice.
Haris said, Hizbut’s activities were against Pancasila and the soul of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.
The measures follow months of sectarian tensions in the world’s most populous Muslim nation that shook the government and undermined Indonesia’s reputation for practising a moderate form of Islam.
