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WHEN a group of hardliners from the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) attacked an inter-faith gathering at the Indonesian national monument in Jakarta in June 2008, there were calls for the militia organisation to be disbanded.儲存倉The police took away FPI leader Habib Rizieq Shihab and sent him to prison for 18 months for inciting his followers to launch the attack. But the organisation was not dissolved. Instead it continued to thrive.The group now operates almost with impunity. It raids nightspots during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, instigates violence against religious minorities and attacks churches.One reason suggested as to why no action has been taken against the FPI is that the authorities are afraid of being accused of repressing an Islamic organisation. There is also a reluctance to use the draconian 1985 law on mass organisations that was enacted by the Suharto regime.Under this law, the Home Affairs Ministry can summarily dissolve any mass organisation without legal process or right of appeal if it poses a threat to the nation, or rejects the state ideology of Pancasila.Last week, the Bill on Mass Organisations to replace the 1985 law was passed by Parliament (DPR) and all eyes will be focused on how the new law will be used. Will the authorities be more willing to use it against the FPI for disrupting social order?The Bill, which will soon become the new law on mass organisations, is less repressive than the Suharto-era version. But it will provide the legal cover for the government to regulate hundreds of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), both local and foreign, that are operating in the country. Once the new law receives presidential approval, these organisations, known as organisasi kemasyarakatan (or ormas), will have to register and apply for an operating licence.Strangely, the passage of the Bill has not been met with jubilation. Instead, the government has been lambasted by human rights groups for allegedly trying to bring Indonesia back to the authoritarian era of the New Order. With the original purpose of the Bill in reining in violent groups forgotten, critics regard the proposed legislation as a violation of freedom of association and expression, and therefore a setback for democracy.They claim the Bill is similar in spirit with the 1985 law it is replacing. This is because it grants excessive authority to the government to interfere in and dissolve any organisation. Opponents of the Bill are planning to file a judicial review at the Constitutional Court in a bid to block its enforcement.But whatever the sentiments expressed by its critics, the Bill represents the most comprehensive piece of legislation that Indonesians can hope for when dealing with the hundreds of NGOs operating in the country. These range from bodies representing industries, professions, religious institutions, charities, educational institutions, political organisations, social foundations, societies (perkumpulan) and ethnic groups to orphanages. They work for society and their resources come from within the country but they are not yet regulated sufficiently.The new law should be supported by the public for at least three reasons.First, it is a good replacement for the 1985 law that all concede to be excessively repressive. The Bill went through several drafts during two years of scrutiny by the legislators in order to ensure that it did not curtail civil liberties. It exempts all mass organisations established before independence in 1945, such as the Muhammadiyah, which was founded in 1912. Basically, this reflects the state's recognition of the role played by such organisations in the development of the country. Later drafts of the Bill also do not insist that a mass organisation adopt the state ideology of Pancasila as its sole principle. An organisation can exist as long as its ideology does not oppose the Pancasila.The clause prohibiting the proliferation of ideologies such as communism, Marxism, Leninism and liberalism has also been dropped following public protests. It has been replaced by a clause banning the propagation of communism and atheism.Also revised in later drafts are the powers of the government to intrude into the affairs of the organisations or dissolve organisations that have been found to have broken the rules. There is now a detailed procedure that must be followed before an organisation can be disbanded.Second, the public has been complaining about the tensions produced by the activities of militia groups like the FPI.The Bill provides the legal umbrella for the authorities to act against such groups by dissolving them and cracking down on members who are directly involved in violence.Third, the legislation is necessary to confer on the government the authority to monitor foreign NGOs. These include those involved in community projects and other ventures. This is to ensure that these organisations stick to permitted projects, rather than getting involved in other areas, or even meddling in local politics.The head of the special parliamentary committee scrutinising the Bill, Mr Abdul Malik Haramain, said earlier this week that the authorities knew that some foreign groups that were supposed to be operating in the health sector had been secretly providing support to separatist movements in Papua and Aceh.For these type of violations, there will be sanctions in the form of warnings, suspensions or revoking of licences and even diplomatic sanction.Gaining some form of control over foreign NGOs is the only way the government can protect the unitary state.Now that the Bill will soon become law, the challenge is for the government to enforce it and bring wayward organisations into line. It will also be a good time for the government to revisit the issue of radical groups like the FPI, whose activities have raised such concern.salim@sph.com