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Indonesia’s ‘democratic system at risk’: IDEA report
The results of the study track with previous reports and findings from concerned civil society groups and democracy activists that recorded an increase in attacks against critics of the government.
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Students stage a theatrical performance in Jakarta on Dec. 15 in protest at rising violence against people for expressing their opinions throughout 2020, which has been considered a dark year for democracy. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
A
new report by the Sweden-based Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) released on Wednesday warned that even nations with a “more longstanding and stable democratic system” such as Indonesia were at risk of a breakdown in democracy, joining a trend experienced by at least half of democracies around the world.
The study does not take a microscopic view of the state of democracy in every country but offers sweeping views based on examples in each region. It concluded that “democracy is receding in Asia and the Pacific, while authoritarianism solidifies”. A little more than half of the people in this region live in a democracy, while almost 85 percent of those live in one that is weak or backsliding.
Among the factors most responsible for this regional trend in recent years is the erosion of freedom of expression.
“Although erosion has taken place in all aspects of democracy, the impact on freedom of expression and media integrity is striking, with 35 percent of democracies in the region exhibiting erosion in at least one of them,” IDEA researchers stated in the report.
The results of the study track with previous reports and findings from concerned civil society groups and democracy activists, including those of Amnesty International Indonesia, which recorded 95 attacks against 297 activists and other critics of the government last year, ranging from online intimidation to physical abuse.
The report notes that since 2018, at least 15 countries in the region have approved measures that restrict freedom of expression, and that includes Indonesia.
The revision of the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law that lawmakers tabled in 2019 falls under this category, which the IDEA report describes as measures that “target online content under the guise of fighting disinformation and protecting infrastructure against cyberattacks”.
