Since 2021, Indonesia has entered a phase of systemic reconstruction of a new-style authoritarianism. Democracy, which should have continued to grow in the Reform Era, has been gradually hollowed out from within through regulatory changes, repression of civil liberties, the weakening of oversight institutions, and the systematic disregard of human rights principles. This is not merely democratic backsliding. It is a deliberate and organized sabotage of public space, consciously and strategically carried out by the state.
The weakening of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) became one of the most striking indicators in 2021. The revision of the KPK Law not only attacked the institution’s independence but also engineered an ideological screening mechanism disguised as the Civic Knowledge Test (TWK). Through the TWK, the state eliminated dozens of KPK employees with proven integrity, courage, and commitment to the anti-corruption agenda. This effort sent a clear signal that the state no longer desires critical and autonomous institutions, but rather those that are obedient and submissive to the political direction of those in power. At the same time, natural resource exploitation continued to be accelerated through National Strategic Projects which sacrifice customary lands, the environment, and people’s living spaces. Presidential Regulation No. 3 of 2016 was used to legitimize these violations, wrapped in narratives of development and economic acceleration. Concurrently, journalism and freedom of expression were suppressed, while corporations were granted broad access to territories previously protected by Indigenous peoples and local communities.
Entering 2022, repression evolved into a more brutal and erratic form, even as its political direction became increasingly explicit. The state began treating criticism as a threat, responding with intimidation and criminalization. Fatia Maulidiyanti and Haris Azhar became symbolic victims of a silencing strategy aimed at critical voices that consistently exposed human rights violations in Papua and environmentally destructive extractive projects. Resistance to the Rempang Eco City development, which targeted Malay communities, was met with police violence and the arrest of residents who refused to surrender their living spaces. Public discussions facilitated by civil society organizations such as PBHI were forcibly dispersed through intimidation, terror tactics, the deployment of individuals claiming to represent mass organizations, and even electricity cut-offs by university authorities. In another incident, the Indonesia Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI) offices were raided during the G20 Summit in Bali. This was not incidental. It reflected a pattern in which the state began mobilizing conservative civilian groups alongside security forces to manufacture an atmosphere of fear and social control.
This situation did not emerge in isolation. It was designed to be institutionalized through legal instruments. The year 2023 marked a period of regulatory consolidation that normalized repression as the new norm. The Job Creation Law dismantled the precautionary principle in environmental protection, eliminated meaningful public participation in policymaking, and elevated investment interests as the overriding priority. Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code (KUHP) reintroduced colonial-era provisions that open wide avenues for the criminalization of expression, protest, and freedom of opinion, particularly when directed at those in power. Moreover, the establishment of illegal memoranda of understanding between the military and civilian institutions reopened the door to military involvement in civilian affairs, reversing the reform agenda that has been fought for since 1998.
The year 2024 became the culmination of this long-running project of democratic decay. Although officially framed as a “festival of democracy” due to the Simultaneous General Elections and Regional Elections, the reality on the ground revealed that the entire apparatus of the state was mobilized to manipulate electoral competition. State officials, from civil servants to the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police, openly sided with candidates favored by those in power. Social assistance programs were converted into campaign instruments. Law was weaponized to eliminate political opponents. Criminalization and disinformation were deployed to destroy the reputations of candidates outside the ruling bloc. Elections ceased to function as a mechanism for popular choice and instead became tools for the consolidation of power.
At the same time, the securitization approach expanded across all sectors of life. Agrarian conflicts, environmental disputes, and confrontations between citizens and the state were resolved through the deployment of security forces. The placement of active military officers in civilian posts became a normalized practice, even justified in the name of efficiency and stability. The state abandoned a fundamental principle of a democractic state, which is the separation between military and civilian spheres. The appointment of regional heads drawn from military or police backgrounds stands as concrete evidence of the normalization of military control over civilian governance.
Civil society organizations now face severe challenges. Dependence on international funding has placed many organizations in a vulnerable position. Numerous institutions have been compelled to comply with government partnership requirements merely to sustain operations. Advocacy agendas are adjusted, approaches compromised, and proximity to grassroots communities steadily eroded. Movements that once emerged from below have been reduced to project-based institutions, aligning their struggles with donor narratives instead.
The year 2025 opened a new chapter in this authoritarian trajectory. The criminalization of Prof. Bambang Hero Saharjo, an academic who provided scientific testimony in a corruption case involving the tin commodity sector, demonstrates that even knowledge itself is now treated as an act of defiance. Testimony delivered in a judicial forum, which should have been a space for truth, was instead used as grounds for criminal prosecution. The state has lost the ability to distinguish between civic oversight and loyalty to power.
The enactment of the new TNI Law, that is, Law No. 3 of 2025, provided formal legal legitimacy for the active involvement of the military in civilian positions. This represents not only a betrayal of the spirit of reform but also a clear confirmation that democracy has been sacrificed in the name of illusory stability. All state apparatuses are now directed to distance the public from decision-making processes. Policies are formulated behind closed doors, without meaningful participation, and often announced only after decisions have already been made. The public is afforded no opportunity to correct these decisions—only the obligation to adapt.
Efforts to rewrite history continue to intensify, aimed at sanitizing past military violence and human rights violations. When narratives of truth are replaced with narratives of victory, what we are witnessing is not merely political manipulation, but a profound betrayal of collective memory. At the implementation level, repression has become routine practice. Peaceful protests are treated as security threats. Defense and security forces are deployed to serve corporate interests in the seizure of people’s living spaces, all under the pretext of investment.
The enforcement of the new Criminal Code further underscores this regressive trajectory. Beyond reviving vague and elastic provisions, the Code disregards fundamental human rights protection principles. In the Asta Cita document outlining the vision and mission of the elected President and Vice President for the 2025-2029 period, there is not a single commitment to strengthening human rights or ensuring access to legal aid for the poor. All of these indicators demonstrate that we are witnessing the final consolidation of a new authoritarian regime. Yet history teaches us that repression never produces lasting stability. When the state chooses violence, censorship, and legal manipulation as instruments of control, public anxiety inevitably grows. And from that anxiety, courage is born. From courage, resistance emerges.
