A Decade of Declining Trend in Indonesia's Democracy Index

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The trend of declining Indonesia's democracy index over the past decade continues. Referring to the 2025 report by The Economic Intelligence Unit, Indonesia's democracy index for 2024 has again decreased compared to 2023, placing it still in the category of flawed democracy. Among the five dimensions measured, the lowest scores are in the areas of political culture and civil liberties.

Based on the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) 2025 report on the 2024 Democracy Index, Indonesia's Democracy Index reached a score of 6.44 on the highest scale of 10. This achievement places Indonesia in 59th place out of a total of 167 countries whose index was measured. With this score, Indonesia is also in the category of flawed democracy.

Indonesia's position in the flawed democracy category is not a recent occurrence but has persisted for at least the past decade. During this time, Indonesia's Democracy Index score has continued to decline.

Kompas notes, referring to the EIU report, the decline has occurred at least since Indonesia achieved a democracy index score of 7.03 in 2015 to 6.97 (2016), 6.39 (2017), and 6.39 (2018), 6.48 (2019), 6.30 (2020), and 6.71 (2021 and 2022). Then in 2023, Indonesia's score became 6.53 or ranked 56th then dropped three ranks in 2024 with a score of 6.44.

EIU measures the democracy index based on five dimensions, including the electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, and political participation. Additionally, there are dimensions of political culture and civil liberties that are also assessed. The total score is obtained by summing the scores of all dimensions and then dividing by five.

Based on the scores obtained, countries are categorized into four levels: full democracy (score above 8), flawed democracy (more than 6 up to 8), hybrid regime (more than 4 up to 6), and authoritarian regime (less than or equal to 4).

Of the five dimensions measured, Indonesia's lowest scores were in the areas of political culture (5.00) and civil liberties (5.29). Meanwhile, the highest scores were obtained in the dimensions of electoral process and pluralism (7.92), followed by political participation (7.22), and government functioning (6.79).

Responding to the declining trend of Indonesia's Democracy Index, the Head of the Presidential Communication Office, Hasan Nasbi, compared Indonesia's score with that of another country, namely Israel.

According to him, the measuring tool used by the EIU should be updated because it places Israel's democracy ranking higher than Indonesia's.

"If Israel, which massacred the Palestinian people and even innocent children, has a democracy ranking above ours, I think their measuring tools are no longer up to date with the needs of the times. It seems like their measuring tools need to be updated to be more universal and not biased by European values," Hasan told Kompas.

He refused to answer when asked about other aspects that need to be optimized to improve the democracy index score and the general practice of democratization in Indonesia.

Senior researcher at the Center for Political Research, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Firman Noor, revealed that the decline in the democracy index is a reflection of the inequality of political competition in Indonesia. The reason is, power only revolves among a handful of elites. Therefore, so far, political participation has never occurred purely.

"I think it's because power is not spread out. In fact, it tends to be narrow. As a result, there is a manipulation that cannot be checked and controlled effectively as a democratic country usually does," said Firman, when contacted, Wednesday evening.

The decline in the democracy index, Firman explained, is also part of the bad political culture practiced in this country. His party has detected the symptoms for a long time. One example is seen from the provision of politically motivated social assistance. He considered that this method was able to manipulate political participation in society.

On the other hand, continued Firman, political elites do not provide enough political education to support democracy. Instead, they display overly pragmatic methods to win a contest.

"Our political elite cultivates Machiavellian politics. Any means are justified. So, it is not surprising that our political culture is in disarray," said Firman.

Meanwhile, Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Wawan Mas'udi revealed that the downward trend in the democracy index is a global phenomenon. This condition has been going on for the past 10 years. There is a decline in public trust in representative political institutions.

"That is what then in many countries gave birth to populist leaders who are considered to be able to represent the people. This is a big challenge to established democratic institutions such as political parties, the DPR, and the executive. All of which are elected by the people," said Wawan.

From the aspect of civil liberties, Wawan said, dissatisfaction also emerged. The triggers were varied, ranging from the marginalization of minority groups and the silencing of groups in society who launched criticism.

Regarding political culture, Wawan continued, it is another issue that deserves attention. The democratic system is not fully democratic. The patron-client structure is deeply rooted socially. The proof is that the implementation of elections tends to be controlled by certain groups because of the strong grip of the oligarchy.

"Well, the problem is that political culture cannot be reversed just like that. This democracy, right, is present in a social structure that has been formed socially," said Wawan.

For that reason, Wawan proposed that the government develop a regular public consultation system for its various decisions. Thus, the control mechanism will be more measurable. Public participation will also be more visible.

In addition, Wawan also asked for a review of regulations that have the potential to silence the voice of the people. Moreover, voices that criticize the government. The existence of public criticism is an important element in the running of democracy.

"This will be the key to increasing public trust. Civil society must be strengthened. Its main function is to provide a sense of checks and balances in the implementation of power," said Wawan.