Jakarta – National Mandate Party (PAN) executive Yandri Susanto said his party was supporting Muslim group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia's (HTI) plan to file an appeal against the Jakarta Administrative Court's (PTUN) ruling to reject the group's lawsuit against its disbandment by the Law and Human Rights Ministry.

He said the appeal process was HTI's effort to seek justice over an arbitrary movement caused by the implementation of Law No.16/2017 on mass organizations.

"Any entity, not only HTI, that has been disbanded by the government without a proper legal procedure and that feels that the move has resulted in their losses can file a lawsuit against the disbandment via the court. I think such an arbitrary movement to disband an organization is not right and is unfair," said Yandri as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Monday.

Yandri said PAN last year rejected the ratification of the government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) on mass organization (Ormas). He said there was a potential for the law to be misused as a tool to arbitrarily disband mass organizations that were not in line with the government.

"We have rejected Perppu Ormas since the very beginning. This is because disbanding a mass organization must be conducted in a proper way, not like what has happened today. The state must first take legal measures against a mass organization before disbanding it," said Yandri.

As previously reported, PTUN Jakarta rejected HTI's lawsuit against the Law and Human Rights Ministry's decision to disband the group. The court's panel of judges said the ministry's decision was in line with existing procedures. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/05/08/pan-supports-htis-appeal-attempt.html