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Indonesia upgraded to 'free' country by US agency
Indonesia, which became Southeast Asia's largest democracy when President Soeharto was ousted in 1998, maintained its status as a free country in 2008, according to a report released by a US-based international rights agency
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Indonesia, which became Southeast Asia's largest democracy when President Soeharto was ousted in 1998, maintained its status as a free country in 2008, according to a report released by a US-based international rights agency.
Freedom House, which measures civil and political freedom in each country to determine whether the world has become more democratic, painted Indonesia green on its 2009 edition of the Map of Freedom, released Tuesday. The color indicates that Indonesia is listed among "free" countries.
The agency upgraded the status of the world' most populous Muslim majority nation fromto "free" in its 2006 report, due in large part to the previous elections, which were generally considered successful. Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines are still listed as only "partly-free," making Indonesia the only free country in Southeast Asia.
The agency has published the overview of the report on its website but has not yet added details to each country and thus the explanation for why Indonesia successfully maintained its position is not yet available. As of now it is unknown whether Indonesia's press freedom, which was marked yellow or "partly free" last year, has improved.
Indonesian rights activist Poengky Indarti, from Imparsial, questioned the Fredom House's conclusion, saying that the country suffered significant setbacks last year.did not see freedom in 2008," she said, citing a number of cases where journalists, authors and anti-graft activists were arrested for defamation.
She added that in addition to the controversial pornography bill passed last year, the government was still deliberating on a number of bills, such as the state secrecy bill and the public information bill, which are considered inimical to freedom.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported from Taipei, where the report was released, that political freedoms in general declined around the world for a third straight year in 2008. Russia and Greece were marked down because of political incidents and Iraq and Malaysia went up because of increased pluralism. The increased momentum of Malaysia's opposition in national elections was also cited.
Russia, docked for elections that were described as, "neither free nor fair," and neighboring Russian-influenced countries that stifled dissent following peaceful anti-authoritarian revolutions, led the downward trend, Freedom House said.
Greece's position sank because of nation-wide riots in December and the government's "inability" to control them, the group said.
But Iraq, despite years of turmoil following a US-led war, moved up the chart because of security improvements and the increased participation of Sunni Muslims in national politics.
Freedom House presented the report in Taipei because it sees Taiwan as a free area in Asia where it wants to make an impact, its local organizer said.
The world's 89 "free" countries or regions outnumbered the 42 listed aslast year, but political rights and civil liberties declined overall largely because governments worldwide mimicked European anti-authoritarian "color revolutions" that reversed course and squelched democracy, Freedom House said.
"Although setbacks in 2008 did not represent substantial declines for most countries, they were numerous and affected most regions," the group's statement said, citing 34 declines and 14 improvements.
The financial crisis threatens political rights and liberties this year in places without "democratic institutions" and "safety valves" to ease any ensuing conflicts, said Freedom House's Christopher Walker.
