Jakarta – The progress of democracy in the country remains stagnant as some groups and individuals remain in control of the economy and politics, a survey has shown.

In the survey conducted by University of Indonesia's Center for Political Studies (Puskapol UI) and the Institute for Studies on Human Rights and Democracy (Demos) to measure the so-called index of democracy, Indonesian democracy scored 5.3 from a total score of 10, a slight increase from last year's 4.99.

The survey, which was fielded between April to November this year, asked 54 opinion leaders including experts, activists and policy makers to answer a set of quantitative and qualitative assessments on the quality democracy in the country.

The survey found that the respondents gave the highest score to political liberalization, but were only slightly impressed with the economy's progress and civil society.

Executive director of Demos Inggrid Silitonga said that in politics, liberalization had expanded, which provided more people with greater access to political involvement. "Democracy, however, is on the retreat in the economy and civil society," Inggrid said.

The respondents generally thought that democracy in the economy was still an issue, giving an average score of 4.21. The majority of the respondents believed that the country's economy was still controlled by certain groups and individuals.

"The respondents, be they pro-government, moderate or opposition acknowledged that monopoly, disproportion among the country's regions, income disparity and discrimination in the job market is a problem," said Irwansyah, a researcher of Puskapol.

The only force that could break the monopoly was labor unions, the respondents said, arguing that unions had been effective in promoting better income distribution.

The survey also found that democracy in civil society scored low at 5.43. The respondents were concerned that average citizens would have unequal access to information and culture.

The promising sign in civil society is the growing number of NGOs, that play significant roles in nurturing democracy. Some of the respondents, however, were concerned with NGOs failing to promote good governance principles. Politics received a high score in the survey with 6.16.

One indication of greater political freedom is that citizens are now free to set up groups and organizations.

"However, the study also registers a significant level of abuse of power by the government, meaning that people can speak their minds more freely, but there's still a threat against free speech," Irwansyah said.

The quality of democracy is also improving with greater participation in elections. But, there are blind spots where informal groups could exert their influences to voters.

"People can vote without fear during elections, but the ones who play a dominant role are informal groups, such as religious groups, businessmen and the military. They push their own agendas to influence political parties that hold significant power," Irwansyah said. The survey also found that the executive branch of the government was more trustworthy than the legislative bodies.

"The public's trust toward the government stands at 5.39, while the public's trust toward the House of Representatives is at 4.78," he said.