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Indonesia

https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/

August 2024

Protests and criticism force government to backtrack on election law

A wave of protests across Indonesia on 22 August and sharp criticism from civil society compelled the legislature to defy the country’s Constitutional Court (CC) and revise the 2016 Regional Elections Law. The tension began on 20 August, when the CC overruled a controversial May 2024 Supreme Court decision changing the rules for the minimum age of candidates. That ruling would have allowed President Joko Widodo’s son, Kaesang Pangarep, to run for governor of Jakarta. The 20 August CC ruling also lowered the threshold for political party participation in regional polls, which would provide a more open contest between the ruling Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM) and opposition parties. KIM MPs swiftly introduced legislation to revise the 2016 Regional Elections Law on 22 August, which was interpreted by legal experts, civil society, and the opposition as an unconstitutional effort to override the CC’s legally binding ruling. Large demonstrations followed on the same day across the country, with over 100 protesters and police reported injured and over 400 arrested. Parliament swiftly withdrew the legislation and on 25 August gave the General Elections Commission permission to reform electoral laws in line with the CC’s ruling and protester demands. Human rights organizations criticized the police response to the protests and called for an investigation into excessive violence and allegations of attacks on key organizers and journalists.

Sources: Jakarta Post, International IDEA, Human Rights Watch, Financial Times, CNN Indonesia, Reuters

Indonesia narrowly expands abortion access

The Indonesian government introduced regulations on 29 July that legalized some abortions under strict conditions as part of the implementation of a 2023 Health Law. Women whose pregnancies are a result of rape and certain medical emergencies will now be able to obtain an abortion up to 14 weeks after conception. The previous legal standard only allowed for six weeks. The country’s leading religious council, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), sharply criticized the new regulations as contradicting its 2005 fatwa, declaring abortions can only be performed within 40 days of conception. Some gender rights activists broadly welcomed the move but criticized a provision that grants the police, rather than medical professionals, sole discretion to authorize abortions, and the lack of specific instructions for police on how to handle and process rape cases.

Sources: Reuters, Benar News, Tempo

May 2024

Court changes electoral rules for Jokowi’s son

The Supreme Court ruled on 30 May that the minimum age requirement for gubernatorial candidates applies not from when a candidate is nominated but for when they would be sworn into office. The ruling was widely interpreted as a carve-out to permit outgoing President Joko Widodo’s youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, to run for governor of Jakarta in an election scheduled for 27 November. Kaesang will be 29 on election day but will turn 30 before he would be sworn in. In October 2023, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court made a comparable ruling that allowed Jokowi’s elder son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, to run (successfully) for vice president in the 2024 presidential election.

Sources: Jakarta Post, The Diplomat, International IDEA

Constitutional changes could undermine judicial independence
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Indonesia’s parliament and government have agreed on a bill that will shorten the tenure of Constitutional Court judges from 15 to 10 years, require approval from appointment authorities (the president, the Supreme Court, and parliament) every five years or be removed from office, and overhaul the court’s ethics counsel to add the president, parliamentarians and members of the Supreme Court. Some members of the court have clashed with outgoing President Joko Widodo’s administration in several high-profile occasions, most recently in a ruling over the validity of the most recent election. Legal experts warn the changes are intended to subjugate the powerful court to the legislative and executive branches and punish the three justices who dissented from a broader ruling supporting  dismissing electoral challenges in the 2024 general elections. Those three judges will be the first whose seats are up for review. Governing MPs argued the changes were politically neutral and aimed at ensuring the court’s accountability and efficacy.

Sources: Benar News, Reuters, Perludem

February 2024

Indonesia holds general elections
Election flag

Indonesia held general elections on 14 February 2024 for president, vice president, both houses of parliament and local and regional offices. Final election results released on 21 March showed Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto and his vice presidential running mate Gibran Rakabuming, the son of outgoing President Joko Widodo, won 55.5 per cent of the votes on 82.39 per cent turnout. Prabowo's PDIP won 19.33 per cent of the votes in parliament, followed by Gerindra (12.57 per cent) and Golkar (12.31 per cent). The gender makeup of the incoming parliament is not yet available, but Indonesia’s gender quota requires that 30 per cent of candidates, and every third candidate on an electoral list, be a woman. The losing presidential candidates filed legal challenges to disqualify Prabowo and re-run the election, a not uncommon practice in Indonesian elections.

Sources: Al Jazeera, The Diplomat, Cabinet Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia, Reuters

 

Voting irregularities prompt calls for investigation
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Indonesian civil society organizations and opposition parties have called for a parliamentary investigation into the 14 February general election and threatened to file cases with the Constitutional Court, alleging abuses of state resources by outgoing President Joko Widodo and criticizing the conduct of the General Elections Commission (KPU). The allegations include pressure on local politicians to support Prabowo in exchange for state funds, tampering with overseas votes, vote-buying, social media manipulation, and “logistical and administrative problems” in seven provinces, a required re-vote at over two thousand polling stations, and reports of destroyed ballots. Critics have also targeted the KPU, alleging a lack of transparency. Accusations of “suspicious” preliminary vote counts from civil society and political parties led the KPU to take its running tabulations offline on 5 March, prompting further criticism. Final vote tallies are due 20 March.

Sources: Jakarta Post, Fulcrum, East Asia Forum, Benar News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Washington Post

December 2023

Defamation law watered down after criticism

The Indonesian parliament revised the Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 11 of 2008 Concerning Electronic Information and Transactions (known as the electronic information and transaction law (ITE)) on 5 December to raise the necessary standard for defamation and halving the maximum penalty from four years imprisonment to two. Human rights activists and lawyers had criticized the broad application of the law since its passage in 2008 and argued that it was misused by politicians to stifle public criticism. However, critics said the changes did not go far enough and the standard for defamation under the law continued to be too low and therefore subject to abuse.

Sources: Benar News, Reuters

See all event reports for this country

Global ranking per category of democratic performance in 2023

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Representation
65/173
Rights
103/173
Rule of Law
98/173
Participation
26/173
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Basic Information

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Population Tooltip
276 361 790
System of government
Presidential system
Head of government
President Joko Widodo (until October 2024)
Head of government party
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)
Electoral system for lower or single chamber
List Proportional Representation
Women in lower or single chamber
21.6%
Women in upper chamber
Not applicable
Last legislative election
2024
Effective number of political parties Tooltip
9.33
Head of state
President Joko Widodo (until October 2024)
Selection process for head of state
Direct election (two-round majority, with minimum regional distribution of the vote needed to win in first round)
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) date
07/11/2022
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) percentage of recommendations supported
76.21%
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Human Rights Treaties

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State Party State party
Signatory Signatory
No Action No action
United Nations Human Right Treaties
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
State Party
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
State Party
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
State Party
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
State Party
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
State Party
Convention on the Rights of the Child
State Party
International Convention on Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
State Party
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance 
Signatory
International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
State Party
International Labour Organisation Treaties
Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention
State Party
Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention
State Party
Equal Remuneration Convention
State Party
Abolition of Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention
State Party
Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment
State Party
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
State Party
in
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Performance by category over the last 6 months

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Representation neutral Rule of law
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Representation neutral Participation
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Global State of Democracy Indices

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Explore the indices
Representation
Representation
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rights
Rights
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/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rule of Law
Rule of Law
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high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Participation
Participation
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/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4

Factors of Democratic Performance Over Time

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