JakartaPost-Dec 11
Marking the annual International Human Rights Day, rights groups on Friday painted a disturbingly bleak picture of the country’s state of human rights with a controversial illiberal legislation being passed, lukewarm handling of past rights violations and persisting violence and impunity among security forces. Once described as an important bellwether for the state of democracy in Southeast Asia, signs of regression under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration have taken greater shape. With the memory of an era of autocratic rule under Soeharto still lingering on, in the minds of activists controversial laws and faltering commitment to defend fundamental freedoms may overturn the country’s hard-won progress in protecting human rights. The House of Representatives last week passed into law a controversial new criminal code replacing a clunky one dating back to colonial Dutch rule. The overhaul has been widely denounced by activists as a crackdown on civil liberties and political freedoms, triggering an alarm in the world’s third-largest democracy. Articles viewed as problematic include bans on insulting a sitting president and some state institutions, views that contradict the state ideology Pancasila, protests without a permit, sex outside marriage and nonmarital cohabitation. The revisions follow years of relentless state harassment of activists using existing regulations, especially the anti-defamation provisions in the Electronic Information Transactions Law (ITE), and the authorities’ increasingly unrestrained use of force against demonstrators, as seen during the students’ protests of 2019 and 2020. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2022/12/11/bleak-future-rights-groups-paint-grim-picture-after-great-democratic-setback.html
