Jakarta – Eleven of 14 pro-democracy organizations have rejected invitations to attend and speak at an upcoming global democracy forum in Bali.

The Bali Civil Society Forum, or BCSF, is among a series of activities during the Bali Democracy Forum 2014, which is scheduled to be attended by several heads of state.

The organizations' decision to reject the invitations demonstrates their response to a perceived setback to democracy in the country after the revision of the regional elections law, which scraps direct elections for regional leaders.

"Our decision not to attend BCSF is very logical because we believe democracy in Indonesia experienced a setback over the past five years, during the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. There is nothing to share about Indonesia's democratic achievements," Fransisca Fitri of Yappika, a nonprofit organization that advocates basic human rights, said in a joint press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Fellow organizations that have rejected the invitation are the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation, the Center for the Study of Law and Policies of Indonesia (PSHK), the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Migrant Care, Indonesia Corruption Watch, the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), Transparency International Indonesia, the People's Voter Education Network (JPPR), the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) and the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra).

Three of the organizations, which have agreed to attend the event include the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), Wisnu and Kemitraan.

Fransisca said they are not the only ones who think the country's democracy has experienced a setback. The issue was also objectively measured by the Indonesian Democratic Index (IDI) study, released by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in July. Fransisca said the BPS data has shown that Indonesia's democracy had become dangerously stagnant.

"The IDI data examined three things, civilian freedoms, political rights and democratic institutions. In terms of political rights, we have been deprived and have often been left out. We were not given space to exercise our political rights, and we were often excluded from the policy-making process. The same also occurred with the right to vote and to be voted for, now that the regional election law has been revised," Fransisca said.

The BPS data showed there had been a fluctuation in the nation's democracy index over the past five years. The highest score recorded was 67.30 points and the lowest was 62.63, which means Indonesia's IDI is approaching "bad" or just above the "safe" limit of 60.00 The IDI score last year was only 63.68.

All 11 civil organizations considered Yudhoyono presenting the Bali Democracy Forum as inappropriate, given his apparent inconsistency in assuring the continuation of democracy in the country.

They said the president should have withdrawn the controversial regional election bill in order to keep democracy in Indonesia alive. The president also had the chance to stop the bill from being passed into law if the members of his Democratic Party had not walked out during voting.

"The [passing of the] regional election law showed that SBY wasn't serious and that he was messing around with the people's political rights. The regulation in lieu of law, known as Perppu, No. 1/2014, was just a way to save the SBY administration's image in the eyes of the international community, and not to uphold democracy," said Dadang Trisasongko, Transparency International Indonesia secretary general, referring to the president by his initials.

Requires testing

Ari Dwipayana, a political analyst from Gadjah Mada University, considers the president's move to issue the decree as not enough.

"SBY's consistency in supporting direct elections for regional heads should be tested again during the political process in the legislature. Especially with regards to the position of the Democratic Party and other political parties in the coalition led by Prabowo Subianto," Ari said, referring to the Red-and-White coalition.

He said a test was necessary because of public ambivalence toward the president's current position on the regional election law, especially after it passed through the legislature.

Ari said Yudhoyono had the benefit of two positions during the political process, meaning the president was represented by the Home Affairs minister and also by the members of his Democratic Party.

"In such conditions, the Home Affairs minister could have refused his approval, which would have been in line with the president's constitutional right," Ari said. As Democratic Party chairman, the president could have also instructed his party members to support direct regional elections, he added.

Ari said public suspicion that a political transaction had taken place during the legislative process of the regional election bill, was inevitable, given several key indicators.

The first indication was that Yudhoyono did not follow up his anger toward party members' decision to walk out during the voting process. This anger could have been expressed by sanctioning the chairwoman of the Democratic Party faction in the House, Nurhayati Ali Assegaf, who instructed the walkout. "That upheld suspicions that what happened [Yudhoyono's anger] was just drama," Ari said.

The second indication, he added, was the fact that the president did not instruct the Home Affairs minister to reject the new law. The government, through the presidential spokesman, said it would accept whatever decision was made by lawmakers following deliberations.

The third indication, Ari said, was the fact that the Democratic Party supported the Prabowo-led coalition's leadership package in the legislature. "Those three [occurrences] are part of a series of events that must be understood together," he added.

Deputy Foreign Minister Dino Patti Djalal said the upcoming Bali Democracy Forum will be a special occasion because the creator, President Yudhoyono, will soon end his term in office after a decade in power. The forum will take place in Nusa Dua, Bali, this Friday and Saturday.

Despite the circumstances, Dino said he was confident Indonesia's democracy will be showcased as Yudhoyono's legacy. "Every country that is represented at the Bali Democracy Forum has its own issues and Indonesia is no exception. It is not a perfect country. We have a lot of issues with our democracy and we are open about it. Also, we are trying to solve them as best as we can," Dino said.

"The president has signed the Perppu, that, if approved by the House, will change the mechanism for local elections back to the way it was previously. Additionally, elections will be restored with much better improvements to ensure that elections will be free from money politics, abuses and other excesses associated with local elections.

"So we are showing the world that this can happen in a democracy... That we may have a setback, but that we can also bounce back. And, we can solve the issue by keeping pace with democratic principles."

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/stakeholders-shun-bali-civil-society-forum/