Tuesday, 17 May 2022
Reporter : Yusuf Wibisono
Student action on behalf of the March 11 Student Movement demonstration at the Adipura Bojonegoro roundabout.
Jakarta (beritajatim.com) – In the last 9 years, Indonesia has experienced a decline in democracy.
As stated by the political scientist, Prof. Saiful Mujani, on the Political Surgery program that aired on the SMRC TV Youtube channel, 17 May 2022.
The statement by the founder of SMRC is based on Freedom House data from 2013 to 2022. The data shows that Indonesia’s democracy score has declined from 65 in 2013 to 59 in 2022.
Saiful Mujani explained that Freedom House conducts regular studies on freedom.
This study asks a number of experts or people who understand Indonesian politics to tick off items that are indicators of democracy, whether conditions are improving or deteriorating. Freedom House conducted a study of all countries in the world, including Indonesia.
Saiful continued that the study conducted by Freedom House measured the condition of democracy by looking at the aspect of freedom.
Why freedom? According to Saiful, by definition, it is inconceivable that there is a democracy without freedom. The basis of a democratic system is freedom.
Therefore, freedoms across the country are the focus of Freedom House’s attention. This institution then scored between 0 and 100, where the closer to 100 the better the democratic condition, while the closer to 0 the worse.
This political scientist who graduated from Ohio State University, United States, explained that there are two indicators of democracy used by Freedom House: political rights and civil liberties.
Political rights include, among other things, the holding of the General Election, whether, for example, it is conducted honestly and fairly or not, how the government operates, whether there are checks and balances or not, how difficult it is to participate in contesting, and so on.
Saiful gave an example that the difficult practice of making political parties in Indonesia an indicator of Indonesia’s lack of access to political rights.
“The easier it is for people or citizens to access contestation in power, then it is an indication that democracy is getting better,” said Saiful.
Another aspect is civil liberties. This relates, among other things, to freedom of speech, expression, criticism of the government, freedom of the press, protection of minorities, freedom of religion, organization, and so on.
In 2013, Freedom House assessed that Indonesia was still in the category of a free country. This means that aspects of civil liberties and political rights are still good. Among other countries in the world, Indonesia at that time was relatively more advanced in terms of democracy. In Southeast Asia, for example, Indonesia is the best in terms of democracy.
“We are more or less in the same class as India, which has experienced democracy for decades,” said Saiful.
Once entered 2014, Indonesia’s democracy score has decreased. In the last 9 years, Indonesia has experienced a decline in its freedom score, from 65 in 2013 to 59 in 2022.
Saiful explained that the total score for the aspect of civil liberties was from 0 to 60, while for political rights it was from 0 to 40.
Judging from this, he continued, the aspect of Indonesia’s political rights is quite good, which is around 30 or around 75 percent. In fact, Indonesia’s political rights score had gotten better in 2016 and 2017, at that time there was an election that took place well.
“From a political rights perspective, according to Freedom House’s assessment, which is used as a reference in the world to evaluate the condition of democracy in all countries, Indonesia’s political rights aspect is not bad. This is why Indonesia is often referred to as an electoral democracy, a democracy that is good enough to run general elections,” he said.
But, continued Saiful, democracy is not only about elections, but also other fundamental aspects such as protecting the rights of citizens, related to belief, religion, and so on.
In terms of civil liberties, Indonesia’s condition is quite bad, even experiencing a decline from a score of 35 in 2013 to 29 in 2022. Therefore, according to Saiful, what contributes to Indonesia’s deteriorating democracy is the aspect of civil liberties.
Saiful took the example of the weakness of civil liberties in the case of the deaths of six members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) even though they had been arrested by the police in 2021. The same thing happened during the SBY era when the Ahmadiyah congregation was attacked and some were killed in Cikeusik, Banten.
“This is an indication of how poor the protection of citizens’ rights to have beliefs, to have different opinions, and so on,” said Saiful.
Therefore, Saiful continued, “Our (Indonesian) biggest challenge going forward is related to civil liberties.”
Saiful stated that the 2024 election should be a good momentum to maintain political rights, but it should also be able to improve aspects of civil liberties. He explained that in many studies, the behavior of the political elite can affect the condition of civil liberties, for example the certainty of law enforcement officers not to take arbitrary actions is part of the policy at the elite level.
“The aspect of civil liberties should be one of the main agendas of Indonesian leaders when there is a change of national leadership in 2024,” he concluded. (ted)
source https://beritajatim.com/politik-pemerintahan/saiful-mujani-demokrasi-di-indonesia-makin-merosot/