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View all search resultsCivic groups urge solidarity amid 'shrinking' democracy
A national forum for civic groups has called on advocacy organizations of all types to present a united front to fight back against any attempts to undermine country’s incipient democratic decline.
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Activists and supporters hold posters while shouting slogans on Oct. 27, 2025, during a hearing at the South Jakarta District Court for a pretial motion filed by Lokataru Foundation executive director Delpedro Marhaen, which was eventually dismissed. (Antara/Fauzan)
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s Indonesia’s democracy teeters on the verge of a potential setback spanning years, civil society organizations (CSOs) are uniting as a solid front in the fight to defend public rights.
Representatives of 280 CSOs of various focuses from 31 provinces gathered in Jakarta for the Indonesia Civil Society Forum (ICSF) 2025, which ran from Nov. 5 to 6, to discuss the roles and challenges of society in a democracy. They also said the country’s democracy was “shrinking” due to government repression, limited public participation and poor transparency, citing recent indexes.
The 2024 Democracy Index of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) classified Indonesia as a “flawed democracy”, Tempo.co reported. Freedom House currently rates Indonesia as “partly free”, down from the “free” status it held a decade ago.
Indonesia’s democracy “is shrinking, and public participation is almost closed”, Rokhmad Munawir, program head at the Foundation for Strengthening Community Participation, Initiative and Partnerships (YAPPIKA), told a session on Thursday.
“It is why we are pushing for a collective movement to fight back and revive democracy,” Rokhmat said.
He added that civil society movements must join hands across regions and sectors including human rights, law, ecology and women’s rights, all of which were represented during the two-day forum.
At the same session, Bivitri Susanti, a constitutional law expert from Jentera School of Law in South Jakarta, emphasized that amid the ongoing democratic decline, civil society was the only power capable of revitalizing democracy through checks and balances, as well as by demanding accountability from those in power.
