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Online petitions grow, challenges remain
According to change.org, the number of Indonesian users of the platform more than doubled in 2019 to 13 million from 6 million in 2018. The platform also noted that as many as 2.5 million people reached the goals of the submitted petitions.
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Hundreds of students protest in front of the House of Representatives in Central Jakarta against the amendment of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law, the Criminal Code draft (RKUHP) and the sexual violence bill (RUU KUHP). (JP/Ghina Ghaliya)
In recent years, we have seen a rise of digital activism in Indonesia through online petitions. Some are political (such as a petition against the Criminal Code revision known as RKUHP), others are nonsensical (like the petition against a TV advertisement of K-pop girl band Blackpink).
Despite growing participation in such activism, online petitions aren’t always a winning move.
Data from change.org, an online petition website, show that 2019 was a year of hyped democracy and antigraft campaigns.
A petition titled #reformasidikorupsi (corrupted Reform Era) gained 2.3 million online signatures, while #semuabisakena (everyone can be a victim), a petition against the Criminal Code revision, gained more than 1 million backers.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo remained the most targeted figure in online petitions in 2019, with 6,259,598 online signatures directed to him.
In second place was the West Kalimantan Police, which was criticized for the way it handled the case of Audrey, a junior high school student who sustained serious injuries and ended up in hospital after an assault by at least three girls. The petition tagged #justiceforaudrey elicited 3,790,195 online signatures, crowning it the biggest petition of the year.
