Indonesia has issued a decree allowing it to ban groups that oppose its official state ideology, in a move seen to target radical Islamists in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country. But activists said the move is aimed to disband Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), the local branch of a radical Islamist group that seeks to unify all Muslims into a caliphate. “This decree is merely a shortcut to disband HTI because if they use the old NGO law, it’s going to take a long time,” legal expert Bivitri Susanti said. Rights activists warned that the decree could stifle a broad range of democratic institutions. Asfinawati, the head of Indonesia Legal Aid Foundation, said the move is “a setback of Indonesia’s democracy”.

Source: Dhaka Tribune July 12, 2017 09:45 UTC