The upcoming 2024 Election is a moment to choose a presidential candidate who can protect civil liberties. This simultaneous election is also a moment to select legislative candidates who support legislation and the absorption of aspirations that safeguard civil liberties. Several cases have shown a decrease in civil liberties due to state officials using constitutional means, which is hopefully not carried out by the elected officials from the 2024 Election.
"In the component of civil liberties, there is a need for us to assess and decide that the future public officials we will choose have a commitment to prevent Indonesian democracy from falling into a new model of autocracy," said researcher from the Department of Politics and Social Change at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Nicky Fahrizal, during a discussion on "Update Politik Nasional: Pemilu 2024, Peta Kompetisi Partai, dan Situasi Keamanan di Papua [National Political Updates: the 2024 Election, Party Competition Map, and the Security Situation in Papua]," held at the CSIS Auditorium in Central Jakarta on September 25th.
He mentioned that freedom of speech has not been functioning well. There are still many issues concerning academic freedom, accessing information, and ensuring the protection of personal information.
"In the civil liberties component, there is a need for us to assess and decide that the future public officials we will choose have a commitment to prevent Indonesian democracy from falling into a new model of autocracy. These symptoms are already beginning to be felt in the context of today's constitutional democracy," said Nicky.
Furthermore, Nicky explained that the restriction of civil liberties involves the use of legitimate legal instruments, the establishment of legal regulations that restrict civil society, and cyber-attacks against opposition and critical groups. Although civil liberties are strongly guaranteed in the constitution, their implementation is not carried out effectively in some aspects.
"In the 2024 Election, we strive to ensure that these symptoms do not grow stronger by selecting leaders who have a commitment to constitutional democracy and a strong commitment to a healthy political culture," he said.
Additionally, Nicky added that high-quality Legislative Elections will determine the extent to which the parliament or DPR represents the aspirations of the people. Because a healthy and high-quality parliament will perform its oversight function over the government and handle legislation effectively.
According to him, there is a tendency for what should be a political issue to become a legal issue. As a result, many laws are submitted to the Constitutional Court (MK) that are actually political issues. Nicky gave an example regarding the age limit for presidential or vice-presidential candidates.
The Constitutional Court should be addressing issues of constitutional legality, but it ends up discussing political issues that should be debated in parliament. So, the Constitutional Court is drawn into discussing political issues, which often leads to the potential co-optation of the constitution by those in power," he concluded. []
Translated by Catherine Natalia
