Vedro Imanuel Girsang, Jakarta – Constitutional law expert Feri Amsari from Andalas University believes that the principles of democracy in the state were quite sidelined during the administration of the 7th President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo and the beginning of Prabowo Subianto's administration. Therefore, according to Feri, it is not surprising that Indonesia's democracy index has declined.
"It's not surprising, given the results, as various elements of democracy have been sidelined during the era of Jokowi and let's say Prabowo in the last four months," said Feri in a voice message when contacted by Tempo on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.
Feri also addressed Indonesia's poor civil liberties. He cited incidents of banning or censoring critical artistic works, from music to paintings, as well as the brutal actions of law enforcement officials that restrict individual freedoms.
"So it's no wonder that this decline in the democracy index has occurred, and our democracy is in shambles," Feri said. "Only undemocratic governments would ban songs and paintings."
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a research and analysis institution based in London, UK, has just released its research results on the state of democracy in countries worldwide. According to the research findings, Indonesia's democracy perception index dropped three ranks to 59th place in 2024.
Indonesia's democracy index in 2024 was only 6.44. This score decreased from 6.5 in 2023 and 6.71 in 2022. This has placed Indonesia in the category of countries with flawed democracies for at least three consecutive years.
Indonesia received a quite poor score for two assessment components, namely political culture and civil liberties. Indonesia was only given a score of 5 for the political culture. Meanwhile, Indonesia only scored 5.29 in civil liberties.
The Head of the Presidential Communication Office (PCO) Hasan Nasbi stated that Indonesia is still in the same category as the United States and France. He even said that Singapore's ranking is far below Indonesia.
– Eka Yudha Saputra also contributed to the writing of this article.