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Balancing digital growth and government authoritarianism
While Indonesia’s leadership of G20 is certainly a positive factor and could encourage Indonesia to abandon its previously authoritarian tendencies, the fact remains that such a position may incentivize Indonesia to further regress democratically.
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Most active hiring functions in digital and technology sectors. (Michael Page Indonesia/JP/Hengky Wijaya)
Indonesia’s recent rapid rise in global politics, most notably seen through its presidency of the Group of 20 (G20) this year, with the G20 Summit being held in Bali, has given Indonesia a significant platform to lead regional and international affairs.
Simultaneously, Indonesia has experienced immense growth recently on the economic and technological fronts, with Indonesia’s relative mobile-first approach to internet access, coupled with corresponding government initiatives like the Gerakan Nasional 1,000 Start-up Digital (1,000 Digital Start-ups National Initiative) helping Indonesia achieve significant scale in closing the digital gap.
Despite a host of positive factors in support of holistic growth for the country, Indonesia must be careful in balancing the unprecedented access the technology provides the government with, in contrast to its implied authoritarian form of governance. On a similar note, there is a distinct need for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to balance his leadership of the G20 with the existing “fragility of Indonesian democracy,” with Indonesia’s push into the digital economy playing a significant role in this respect.
While Indonesia supports human rights in its 1945 Constitution, the reality is that actually supporting human rights in practice has been less than positive. Dating back several decades, the United States State Department has highlighted topics like reduced freedom of expression, corruption and lack of government transparency as key areas that Indonesia must improve on. In particular, the provinces of Papua and West Papua have been a significant flashpoint for the Indonesian government in many areas, with Human Rights Watch continuing to highlight this conflict to this day.
Indonesia’s heavy-handed governance style has affected US-Indonesian relations, presenting an excellent example of the exacerbating effect that such violations of human rights can have on a specific country, in parallel with Indonesia’s G20 leadership. The road to robust US-Indonesian relations has been an extremely delicate one.
In the past, the US invoked a (since-lifted) ban on bilateral partnerships with the Army’s Special Forces, Kopassus, in the 1990s due to human rights abuses. The US has also publicly condemned Indonesia several times, notably in 1998 for its bloody handling of opposition protests, in 2015 for human rights violations in West Papua, and in 2016 for anti-LGBT statements.
While US-Indonesian relations currently seem to be trending positively, particularly with recent statements by US President Biden calling Indonesia a “vital strategic partner” amid both nations’ attendance at the UN Climate Conference in Glasgow (COP26), Indonesia’s past violations of human rights undoubtedly damaged diplomatic ties between the US and Indonesia during those specific periods.
