Indonesia flag Indonesia: Economic and Political Overview

The political framework of Indonesia

Political Outline

Current Political Leaders
President: Joko Widodo (since 20 October 2014) - PDI-P
Vice President: Ma'ruf Amin (since 20 October 2019)
Next Election Dates
Presidential: 2029
House of Representatives: 14 February 2024
Current Political Context
The government led by President Joko Widodo, who was re-elected for a second five-year term in May 2019, focused on structural reform and improving governance. It began a thorough overhaul of the energy subsidy programme, which funds infrastructure renovation and provides aid to the agricultural sector. With a focus on domestic issues during his second term, the president reaffirmed the reform agenda in 2020, particularly regarding labour, healthcare and infrastructure, in order to lure foreign investments and bolster growth. Despite growing public concern about pressures on civil liberties and the government’s pandemic difficulties, Widodo remained incredibly popular with Indonesian voters. Nevertheless, the Indonesian constitution does not allow the President to run for a third term; hence the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) placed its expectations on Ganjar Pranowo, a former governor of Central Java, for the upcoming presidential election. Other candidates included NasDem outgoing Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, who was nominated leader of the Coalition of Change, and the defence minister and former special forces commander Prabowo Subianto, who lead the Advanced Indonesia Coalition.
Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto has claimed triumph in the presidential election following unofficial vote tallies indicating a substantial lead over his opponents. The 72-year-old ex-special forces commander, who previously ran for president twice without success, reportedly secured approximately 58% of the votes, according to four pollsters conducting "quick count" analyses across sampling stations nationwide. Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo lagged behind with roughly 25% and 17%, respectively.
Main Political Parties
Single parties have little chance of garnering power alone. Thus, parties often work together to form coalition governments. Primary representation in parliament consists of both nationalist secular parties and moderate and Islamic-oriented groups. The major parties are:
Governing Coalition
- Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P): centre-left, follows Pancasila’ideology based on the five founding principles of the Constitution; a split-away group from the PD
- Party of Functional Groups (Golkar): follows conservative liberalism, advocates democratic and liberal values
- National Awakening Party (PKB): Islamist, Pancasila ideology, nationalism
- United Development Party (PPP): Islamic democracy, nationalist Islamism, Pancasila ideology
Opposition:
- National Mandate Party (PAN): Islamic democracy, Pancasila ideology
- Democratic Party (PD): centrist, Pancasila ideology
- Prosperous Justice Party (PKS): Islamist, conservative
- Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra): conservatism, nationalism, populism.
Executive Power
The President is both the head of the State and the head of the Government. The President enjoys the executive power and appoints the cabinet. Both the President and the Vice-President are elected through direct universal suffrage for five-year terms. The President is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and responsible for domestic governance and policy-making and foreign affairs.
Legislative Power
The legislature in Indonesia is bicameral. The highest representative body at the national level is the parliament of the country, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). It consists of the DPR (House of People’s Representatives - lower house) with 575 members elected directly to serve five-year terms, and the DPD (House of Regional Representatives - upper house) with 136 seats, each province electing 4 members on a non-party basis. The President cannot dissolve the parliament but he has the power to veto bills. In turn, a super-majority of legislators may act to override the veto. The people of Indonesia have limited political rights.
 

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

Definition:

The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).

World Rank:
113/180
 

Indicator of Political Freedom

Definition:

The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.

Ranking:
Partly Free
Political Freedom:
2/7

Political freedom in the world (interactive map)
Source: Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House

 

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Latest Update: March 2024