Indonesia was under strict authoritarian rule by General Suharto within the New Order (1966-1998). Subsequent democratization led to the installment of a presidential system with competitive elections and multi-party coalition governments. The reform process stalled after a few years, and since the 2010s scholars increasingly notice tendencies of democratic backsliding. Today, Indonesia is still an electoral Today, Indonesia is still an electoral democracy (also categorized as a “flawed democray” by the Economist Intelligence Unit). According to Civicus, civic space is “obstructed.” Among 179 countries, the country is at rank 87 in V-Dem’s 2023 Liberal Democray Index. This is also reflected in the country’s rank (111 out of 180) in the Press Freedom Index of Reporters without Borders in 2024, in the 2023 Rule of Law Index of the World Justice Forum (66 out of 142 countries) and in the Freedom House 2023 Freedom on the Net Index (rank 47, “partly free”).

Under President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”), elected in 2014 and 2019, investigative journalism or criticism of government officials has increasingly become dangerous because any type of statement in social media can easily be criminalized by the authorities. Prabowo Subianto, who will take over the position as President in October 2024, is believed to continue most of Jokowi’s policies. His past as son-in-law of Suharto and army general who commanded special forces renowned for brutality, his right-wing populist style and some of his controversial statements on democracy and human rights have alarmed civil society activists.

Freedom of expression is increasingly restricted with the help of a range of repressive laws such as the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions Law (UU ITE) which is often combined with Articles from the old Criminal Code as well as Articles 14 and 15 of Law no. 1/1946 on Criminal Law Regulation (on false information or “fake news”). Whereas the latter articles have been declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court in March 2024, the new Criminal Code, which will be implemented in early 2026, includes new provisions on the spread of false information. Moreover, the revised ITE Law now includes article 28(3) referring to intentionally disseminating content that a person “knew contained false statements that cause public unrest.”