INDONESIA’S ‘Democratic System At Risk’: IDEA Report

Posted by Asia Views | Dec 1, 2022 | 0 |

JakartaPost-Dec 1, 2022

A new report by the Sweden-based Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) released on Wednesday warned that even nations with a “more longstanding and stable democratic system” such as Indonesia were at risk of a breakdown in democracy, joining a trend experienced by at least half of democracies around the world. The study does not take a microscopic view of the state of democracy in every country but offers sweeping views based on examples in each region. It concluded that “democracy is receding in Asia and the Pacific, while authoritarianism solidifies”. Among the factors most responsible for this regional trend in recent years is the erosion of freedom of expression. “Although erosion has taken place in all aspects of democracy, the impact on freedom of expression and media integrity is striking, with 35 percent of democracies in the region exhibiting erosion in at least one of them,” IDEA researchers stated in the report. The results of the study track with previous reports and findings from concerned civil society groups and democracy activists, including those of Amnesty International Indonesia, which recorded 95 attacks against 297 activists and other critics of the government last year, ranging from online intimidation to physical abuse. The revision of the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law that lawmakers tabled in 2019 falls under this category, which the IDEA report describes as measures that “target online content under the guise of fighting disinformation and protecting infrastructure against cyberattacks”. Meanwhile, cyberattacks against journalistic institutions have continued unabated, with the worst happening in September against local news outlet Narasi. Social media accounts of 37 current and former Narasi employees were targeted in a series of coordinated attacks that Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) chairman Sasmito Madrim decried as an “assault on press freedom”https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2022/12/01/indonesias-democratic-system-at-risk-idea-report.html.

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

INDONESIA’S ‘Democratic System At Risk’: IDEA Report

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