Singgih Wiryono, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has released its 2022 annual report which notes that democracy in the era of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has suffered a regression.
This was one of the findings in Komnas HAM's 2022 Annual Report that was released on Wednesday April 12.
"Under the administration of Joko Widodo the democratic situation in Indonesia has tended to experience a regression (retreat)", read the Komnas HAM report.
The Komnas HAM report quotes from research conducted by the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute which cites political investment as one of the causes for this retreat.
Jokowi is seen as a narrow developmentalist who has policies that are friendly to the market but sacrifices his dedication to liberal democracy.
"A political orientation to pursue a conservative developmentalist agenda at the expense of democratic reform and human rights issues", read the report.
In addition to this, Komnas HAM highlighted the ratification of the new Criminal Code which is seen a deviating from the principles of liberal democracy.
"Because it has the potential to hinder civil and human rights and even intrudes too far into the private sphere of citizens", wrote Komnas HAM.
These policies have resulted in a decline in Indonesia's rule of law index as cited in a release by the World Justice Project (WJP) that gave Indonesia a score of 0.53 on a scale of 0-1.
With this figure, Indonesia is in 64th position out of 140 countries surveyed. "Moreover, when compared with 15 countries in the Asia Pacific region, Indonesia is ranked 9th", wrote Komnas HAM.
This does not yet include the impact of the passage of the Job Creation Law and the State Capital Law which are seen as a reflection of law as a tool of those in power and a threat to human rights and the environment.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Laporan Tahunan Komnas HAM, Demokrasi Indonesia Alami Kemunduran di Era Jokowi".]