SMRC Founder: Indonesia Experiences Democracy Decline

JAKARTA - Founder of Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) Saiful Mujani said that in the last 9 years, Indonesia has experienced a decline in democracy.

Saiful Mujani's statement refers to Freedom House's data from 2013 to 2022.

"Freedom House data from 2013 to 2022 shows that Indonesia's democracy score has declined from 65 in 2013 to 59 in 2022," said Saiful Mujani in the event "Democracy Is Retreating? Reflections on 24 Years of Reformation" broadcast on YouTube SMRC TV, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, May 17th.

He explained that Freedom House conducts regular studies on freedom. This study asks a number of experts or people who understand Indonesian politics to do a checklist of items that are indicators of democracy, whether conditions are improving or deteriorating.

"We are more or less the same class as India, which has experienced decades of democracy," he said in a press release.

Saiful continued, the study conducted by Freedom House measured the condition of democracy by looking at the aspect of freedom.

According to him, it is inconceivable that there is a democracy without freedom. The basis of a democratic system is freedom. Because of this, freedoms across the country are the focus of Freedom House's attention.

This institution then scores between 0 and 100, with the closer to 100 the better the democratic condition, while the closer to 0 the worse.

This political scientist who graduated from Ohio State University, United States explained that there are two indicators of democracy used by Freedom House: political rights and civil liberties.

Political rights include, among others, the holding of elections, whether, for example, they are conducted honestly and fairly or not, how the government operates, whether there are "checks and balances" or not, how difficult it is to participate in contesting, and so on.

Saiful gave an example that the difficult practice of making political parties in Indonesia an indicator of Indonesia's lack of access to political rights.

"The easier it is for people or citizens to access contestations in power, then it is an indication that democracy is getting better," said Saiful.

Another aspect is civil liberties, relating to freedom of speech, expression, criticism of the government, freedom of the press, protection of minorities, freedom of religion, organization, and so on.

In 2013, Freedom House assessed that Indonesia was still in the category of a free country. This means that aspects of civil liberties and 'political rights' are still good.

Among other countries in the world, Indonesia at that time was relatively more advanced in terms of democracy. In Southeast Asia, for example, Indonesia is the best in terms of democracy.

"We are more or less the same class as India, which has experienced decades of democracy," he said.

Once entered 2014, Indonesia's democracy score has decreased. In the last 9 years, Indonesia has experienced a decline in its freedom score, from 65 in 2013 to 59 in 2022.

Saiful explained that the total score for the aspect of civil liberties is between 0 and 60, while for political rights it is between 0 and 40.

Judging from that, he continued, the aspect of Indonesia's political rights is quite good, which is around 30 or around 75 percent. In fact, Indonesia's political rights score had gotten better in 2016 and 2017, at that time there were elections that went well.

"In terms of political rights, according to Freedom House's assessment, which is used as a reference in the world to evaluate the condition of democracy in all countries, the aspect of Indonesia's political rights is not bad. general election," he said.

But, said Saiful also, democracy is not only about elections, but also other fundamental aspects such as protecting the rights of citizens, related to belief, religion, and so on.

In terms of civil liberties, Indonesia's condition is quite bad, even experiencing a decline from a score of 35 in 2013 to 29 in 2022.

Therefore, according to Saiful, what contributed to Indonesia's deteriorating democracy was the aspect of civil liberties.

He gave an example of the weakness of civil liberties in the case of the deaths of six members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) even though they had been arrested by the police in 2021.

The same thing happened in the era of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) when Ahmadiyah congregations were attacked and some were killed in Cikeusik, Banten.

"This is an indication of how poor the protection of the rights of citizens is to have a belief, to have different opinions, and so on," he said.

Therefore, Indonesia's biggest challenge going forward is related to civil liberties.

According to him, the 2024 election should be a good momentum to maintain "political rights", but it should also be able to improve aspects of civil liberties.

Saiful added that in many studies, the behavior of the political elite can affect the condition of civil liberties, such as the certainty of law enforcement officers not to take arbitrary actions is part of the policy at the elite level.

"The aspect of civil liberties should be one of the main agendas of the Indonesian leadership when there is a change of national leadership in 2024," he said.