Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Several Islamist organizations are demanding that the House of Representatives enact a law to make it difficult for foreign organizations to operate in Indonesia.
The conservative group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), for example, urged lawmakers on Thursday to pass a mass organizations bill to regulate foreign agencies in Indonesia, as well as their local partners, to prevent campaigns that might threaten the nation's unity.
Hizbut Thahrir member Muhammad Rahmat Kurnia described the current draft of the bill as inadequate for controlling foreign NGOs. "It will legitimize their efforts to provide funding to local groups to run their spy operations in the country."
Rahmat claimed that some NGOs were promoting liberalism, communism and separatism in Indonesia, encouraging the House to develop a bill that would target foreign NGOs and their affiliated local mass organizations.
"I am not saying that we must prohibit foreign agencies from operating here. We must be very strict toward them, because I think Indonesia is among a very few countries where foreign agencies can freely operate," Rahmat said.
A representative of another Islamist group said that the mass organization bill must prevent foreign NGOs and their local partners from spreading Christianity.
"Some of these groups that promote early education in the country, for example, have funded local groups to teach Christianity to Muslim children in Semper, North Jakarta," Nurdiyati from the organization Muslim Women said.
"Their ability to draft program proposals has helped them survive and grow in power. Most Islamic organizations lack such skills," she claimed.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Amidan, encouraged lawmakers to protect local Islamist mass organizations.
"We must have the freedom to manage our own affairs. Don't let the rules from the New Order regime make a comeback," Amidan said, referring to the outlawing conservative Muslim organizations under president Soeharto.
According to the MUI, around 60 Muslim mass organizations in Indonesia could come under threat if the current bill is enacted, something that lawmakers are expected to do sometime next month.
Separately, rights activists have said that the bill would deny people their rights of free assembly and expression.
A senior lawmaker from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) supported the concerns voiced by the Islamist groups.
Hidayat Nur Wahid, the leader of the PKS faction in the House, said that the current bill needed to be revised to protect Muslim organizations in the nation and to reduce the influence of foreign groups and their local affiliates.
"We will reject the bill if it is too restrictive," Hidayat said in a meeting with the representatives from the Islamist organizations.
The PKS announced that it would regularly consult with the groups as the bill was deliberated in the House.
The bill was introduced by the government to keep tabs on more than 65,000 local mass organizations and foreign NGOs said to be operating in Indonesia.