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RI academia calls for electoral integrity
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University of Indonesia board of professors head Harkristuti Harkrisnowo (front, second right) delivers a speech at the university's campus in Depok, West Java, on Feb. 2, 2024. The professors flagged what they said was democratic decline in the country ahead of the 2024 general election. (Antara/Yulius Satria Wijaya)
Academic communities across the country have called for a fair and accountable general election on Feb. 14 amid rising concerns about democratic decline in Indonesia.
On Saturday, members of Padjadjaran University (Unpad) in Bandung, West Java, made a public declaration calling on President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and political elites to "follow the law" and to uphold "the integrity and dignity" of the electoral process.
They highlighted facts and events they said demonstrated democratic decline under Jokowi's presidency ahead of the February election, including the country’s poor corruption perception rating, the declawing of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the controversial Constitutional Court ruling that enabled Jokowi’s son to run for vice president.
"We’ve seen political elites exploit the law to legitimize problematic political, social and economic policies," said professor Ganjar Kurnia who heads Unpad’s academic senate.
"Abusing power for the interests of the oligarchic elites will only lead to the failure of our sustainable development, the stagnation of economic growth, deepening poverty and the increase of wealth inequality," he added.
The 2023 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), published by Berlin-based Transparency International last week, had Indonesia stagnating at 34 points for the second year in a row on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being extremely corrupt.
Read also: Indonesia’s graft fight stalls as CPI shows no improvement
