On July 10, 2017, Indonesian President Joko Widodo (popularly known as Jokowi) signed a government regulation which amends Law No. 17/2013 on Civil Society Organisations (CSO) to expedite the legal process to disband “illegal” civil society organisations. The emergency regulation was publicly announced on 12 July by retired general Wiranto, the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs.

Perppu No. 2/2017 disbands a civil society organisation that is found to have committed a number of offences. They include advocating secession from the unitary Republic of Indonesia (NKRI); committing an act which opposes Indonesia’s national ideology Pancasila (Five Principles); and engaging a blasphemous act against an officially recognised religious group.

… Alexander R Arifianto is a Research Fellow with the Indonesia Programme, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.