President Prabowo Subianto appointed a currently serving general to run the state’s food procurement company on 11 February, the first time that a general has served in such a role since the military-dominated authoritarian government of Suharto of 1967-1998. Indonesian legal experts and rights activists argued the appointment violated laws that limit the appointment of military service members to government posts to a limited number of defence-related ministries. The move is part of a broader trend of relying on the military to carry out civilian government projects that has raised warnings about a “slippery slope” of return to the military-dominated government of Suharto-era Indonesia. Prabowo-allied members of parliament are also planning to introduce a bill to allow generals to be appointed to top civilian government jobs.

Sources: Reuters, Jakarta Post (1), Jakarta Post (2)

Indonesia’s parliament revised the country’s mining law on 18 February, giving religious groups, small businesses, and university-owned entities priority status in owning and operating mines. The decision was protested by student groups opposed to university participation in mining and condemned by civil society organizations for weakening governance and environmental oversight of the sector. Critics are particularly concerned about the ability of the above “nontraditional mining actors” to obtain concessions without a public tender, which would exempt them from demonstrating environmental, technical, or financial qualifications and provides significant opportunities for corruption and political clientelism. The bill’s proponents say it will distribute Indonesia’s mining wealth more equitably and that it includes stricter controls on land use.

Sources: Jakarta Post, Reuters, Monga Bay, ASEAN Briefing

Indonesia launched an annual free health screening program for all Indonesians on 10 February in an effort to improve public health through earlier detection of chronic and congenital diseases. Together with a program providing free lunch for all students, the health screenings were one of President Prabowo’s core election promises. However, civil society and legal experts have raised concerns about the practicality and legality of funding the programs through cutting expenditures in much of the public sector. The budget cuts have not been made transparently and the government has not made clear how the size or distribution of budget cuts was determined or justified. Civil servants have raised concerns about their ability to continue to effectively carry out their duties. Civil society criticism has focused on cuts at anti-corruption, law enforcement, and the judiciary in particular, raising concerns about judicial oversight and the ability to investigate or prosecute anti-corruption cases.

Sources: South China Morning Post, Jakarta Post (1), Jakarta Post (2), Jakarta Post (3), Jakarta Post (4), Indonesia Business Post

The House of Representatives (DPR) unanimously opted to revise DPR Regulation 1 of 2020 on 3 February, thereby granting itself the power to “periodically evaluate” all state officials appointed by the government and make binding recommendations for their dismissal. The agencies subject to the new oversight rules include the Corruption Eradication Commission, the General Election Commission, the Constitutional Court, and the Supreme Court. Legal experts criticized the new rules as unconstitutional and as excessive legislative interference in the operations of independent executive agencies. While by statute the DPR has the power to nominate and investigative officials, the new rules conflict with existing statutes defining evaluation and dismissal separately for each agency and delegating the decision to the executive. Constitutional law experts say the rule is a violation of the separation of powers and amounts to legislative overreach. Under the new rules, the DPR could dismiss civil servants who are not aligned with the government’s politics swiftly and without going through established procedures for legislative oversight.

Sources: Jakarta Post (1), Kompas, Jakarta Post (2)

The Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional on 2 January a section of the 2017 General Elections Law governing presidential election nominating procedures. This part of the law required a party, or coalition of parties, to hold a minimum of 20 per cent of the seats in the national legislature, or to have won 25 per cent of the popular vote in the previous legislative election, in order to nominate a presidential candidate. The ruling agreed with the university students who petitioned the court that the minimum threshold unfairly benefited large parties and limited individual voting rights. Although the ruling did not establish a new nominating standard, Indonesian legal experts expected the new system to result in a more pluralistic electoral environment that benefits both more parties and the voting public.

Sources: Jakarta Post (1), Jakarta Post (2), The Diplomat

Indonesia’s Constitutional Court sided with labour union petitioners in 21 of 71 points in a legal challenge to the much-contested 2020 Job Creation Law, also known as the Omnibus law, on 1 November. The ruling will require local officials to set sectoral minimal wages, expanded employee protections when an employee is laid off, required ministries to act more directly to reduce conflicts between employers and employees, and ordered parliament to amend key parts of the law within two years or the entire law will become unconstitutional automatically. The Court had previously ruled other parts of the law unconstitutional in 2021 because lawmakers had failed to follow proper procedures during its passage through parliament.

Sources: The Diplomat, Industriall

A wave of protests across Indonesia on 22 August and sharp criticism from civil society compelled the legislature to defy the country’s Constitutional Court (CC) and revise the 2016 Regional Elections Law. The tension began on 20 August, when the CC overruled a controversial May 2024 Supreme Court decision changing the rules for the minimum age of candidates. That ruling would have allowed President Joko Widodo’s son, Kaesang Pangarep, to run for governor of Jakarta. The 20 August CC ruling also lowered the threshold for political party participation in regional polls, which would provide a more open contest between the ruling Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM) and opposition parties. KIM MPs swiftly introduced legislation to revise the 2016 Regional Elections Law on 22 August, which was interpreted by legal experts, civil society, and the opposition as an unconstitutional effort to override the CC’s legally binding ruling. Large demonstrations followed on the same day across the country, with over 100 protesters and police reported injured and over 400 arrested. Parliament swiftly withdrew the legislation and on 25 August gave the General Elections Commission permission to reform electoral laws in line with the CC’s ruling and protester demands. Human rights organizations criticized the police response to the protests and called for an investigation into excessive violence and allegations of attacks on key organizers and journalists.

Sources: Jakarta Post, International IDEA, Human Rights Watch, Financial Times, CNN Indonesia, Reuters

The Indonesian government introduced regulations on 29 July that legalized some abortions under strict conditions as part of the implementation of a 2023 Health Law. Women whose pregnancies are a result of rape and certain medical emergencies will now be able to obtain an abortion up to 14 weeks after conception. The previous legal standard only allowed for six weeks. The country’s leading religious council, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), sharply criticized the new regulations as contradicting its 2005 fatwa, declaring abortions can only be performed within 40 days of conception. Some gender rights activists broadly welcomed the move but criticized a provision that grants the police, rather than medical professionals, sole discretion to authorize abortions, and the lack of specific instructions for police on how to handle and process rape cases.

Sources: Reuters, Benar News, Tempo