Indonesia's score on the 2021 Democracy Index rose to 6.71 from 6.30 in 2020, thanks to the Constitutional Court's decision stating that the Job Creation Law was conditionally unconstitutional.
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KURNIA YUNITA RAHAYU, IQBAL BASYARI, NINA SUSILO
·4 minutes read
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The increase in Indonesia's score on the global 2021 Democracy Index deserves appreciation, but the big challenge ahead is to improve the quality of democracy with Indonesia still falling in the category of “flawed democracy”. The protection of civil liberties, the independence of judicial institutions, as well as the alignment of government policies and the will of the public are points that can help improve the quality of the country’s democracy.
The 2021 Democracy Index released by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) early this month awards Indonesia a score of 6.71 on a scale of zero to 10. The higher the score, the better the state of democracy in a country is. Indonesia’s score increased from 6.30 the year before, which was the country’s lowest achievement since the EIU began compiling the Democracy Index in 2006.
Indonesia's ranking on the index rose from 64th to 52nd place out of 167 countries studied. While it remained in the category of “flawed democracy”, Indonesia was among the 10 countries with the biggest score improvement.
Gun Gun Heryanto, executive director of the Political Literacy Institute and a lecturer in political communication at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, said in Jakarta on Monday (14/2/2022) that the increase in the Democracy Index should be appreciated given the fact that Indonesia's score had tended to go down from 2015.
“The government should be aware that the one who can raise or lower the Democracy Index is itself. The government must optimize its role in line with the aspirations of the public," he said.
He cautioned the government against creating uncertainty in the implementation of the general election because it could damage the constitutionality, structural and political aspects of the Indonesian democratic system. Support for civil liberties, he said, must also be proven by revising the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law, which he saw as containing rubber articles that could threaten civil liberties.
Positive proceedings
In its report, the EIU said Indonesia had been able to overturn the downward trend in the quality of democracy due to two issues. First was the decision of the Constitutional Court in November 2021 that the Job Creation Law was conditionally unconstitutional and its instruction to the executive and the House of Representatives to revise it. In addition, the President's politics, which accommodated various political groups in the Cabinet, was deemed conducive to building consensus among political powers.
Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko viewed the EIU’s positive assessment on those two issues as an acknowledgement of the government’s policies to maintain judiciary independence and prioritize consensus in pursuing the progress of the nation. He said the government would not be complacent with the assessment. While it was committed to maintaining progress in democracy, the government, he said, continued to strive for improvement in various aspects.
Arsul Sani, deputy chairperson of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) and a United Development Party member, hoped the country’s position in the Democracy Index would also be aided by the just handling of cases related to expression in public spaces, including on social media platforms.
Center for Media and Democracy, Institute for Economic and Social Research, Education and Information (LP3ES) director Wijayanto warned against adopting only quantitative indicators to measure Indonesia’s democracy.
Based on LP3ES' qualitative research throughout 2021, Indonesia's democracy did not change much compared to 2020, he said.
He suspected a rebellion from the democratic consensus marked by the emergence of discourse on extending the presidential term limit. The halting progress in determining the election schedule was allegedly attributable to a tug-of-war between oligarchs' interests.
Wijayanto said violence by officers against civilians was still rife, in addition to restrictions on civil society's freedom of expression and the criminalization of activists.
"Objectively speaking, Indonesia’s democracy is still in the direction of decline and a reversion toward authoritarianism. This is because the consolidation of the oligarchy is getting faster and stronger,” he said.