Indonesia

Group of smartly dressed people standing outside building

Indonesia

Introduction
More than two decades since the 1998 reforms that brought an end to the New Order regime and returned the power to vote in direct elections to the people, Indonesia is often called a beacon of democracy in the Southeast Asia region. However, challenges to inclusive and accountable politics across the different levels of Indonesia’s complex democracy remain.

Since 2016, WFD has worked with national and subnational legislatures as well as civil society and thought leaders in Indonesia. WFD’s mission in the country has emphasised incorporating human rights principles in both policymaking and its implementation. An important landmark in this effort was the introduction of post-legislative scrutiny mechanism in the Indonesian Parliament, a process which WFD supported extensively.

WFD Indonesia also supports the parliament’s efforts to enhance its transparency and accountability through the Open Parliament initiative. In 2020, WFD’s environmental democracy project began to aid the parliament in responding to growing concerns over environmental sustainability, in line with the country’s green economy commitment. In 2022, WFD Indonesia began implementing a regional project aimed at advancing women’s political leadership alongside other offices in Southeast Asia.

Key areas of work

Open parliament

The House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat or DPR), the lower house of Indonesia’s parliament, declared its open parliament initiative in 2018. Indonesia was the first country in Asia to join the global initiative. In December 2018, the DPR published its first Open Parliament Indonesia National Action Plan (OPI NAP); co-created with WFD and local civil society stakeholders spearheaded by the Indonesian Parliamentary Center (IPC).

WFD has also facilitated the sharing of knowledge and experience of open parliament between MPs and civil society leaders from Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Following this support, in December 2020, the second open parliament national action plan was published with wider civil society participation in the process. The plan sets out how open legislation and open data principles would enhance transparency and public participation in parliamentary processes. In 2020, WFD succeeded in widening the participation of civil society stakeholders in the co-creation of the open parliament second action plan from 1 to 12 civil society organisations. 

WFD supports the open parliament initiative through the Inclusive and Accountable Politics (IAP) programme funded by the UK FCDO.

Financial oversight

WFD works closely with the Indonesian parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (Badan Akuntabilitas Keuangan Negara or BAKN) to continually improve parliament’s oversight of government budget and expenditure.

Through the Inclusive and Accountable Politics (IAP) programme, WFD has provided extensive learning opportunities for the BAKN by facilitating study visits to the Public Accounts Committee of the UK House of Commons as well as the UK National Audit Office, holding thematic workshops, and training the committee’s staff and leadership.

WFD continues to be a partner to the committee in upholding its mandate and carrying out its role in scrutinising public finances. Capacity building initiatives facilitated by WFD have successfully led to the BAKN’s first assessment of government spending in 2020 which focused on energy subsidies. 

Protecting human rights

WFD has played a central role in introducing methods to review the application, effectiveness and consequences of laws to the Indonesian Parliament at both national and subnational levels. This practice is known as post-legislative scrutiny.

An amendment to the 2011 Law on Formation of Legislation in 2019 established the procedure for legislative scrutiny in the legislation cycle. With support from the British and Canadian Embassies in Jakarta, WFD ran a string of post-legislative scrutiny pilot projects in subnational parliaments focusing on local regulations that discriminate against women, religious minorities, LGBT+ people, and people with disabilities.

Environmental democracy

WFD has led  successful focus group discussions on environmental issues involving MPs from relevant committees through a partnership with the Indonesian Parliament’s Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (Badan Kerja Sama Antarparlemen or BKSAP). The discussions have garnered much-needed attention on environmental sustainability with an emphasis on how the parliament can play an instrumental role in helping Indonesia achieve its nationally determined commitments under the Global Green Growth programme. WFD’s work in this area emphasises the need to enhance access to information, public participation, and accountability in environmental programming as well as the need to include marginalised groups – particularly indigenous peoples – in the process.

In 2021, WFD began implementing a programme that will seek to introduce regulatory impact assessment, cost-benefit analysis, green budgeting, and green oversight to parliamentary analysts and MPs as well as enhance the parliament’s role in overseeing the government’s implementation of climate action agendas. 

Current programmes

Addressing barriers to women's political participation in the ASEAN region

Status
Completed
10
Start date
Planned end date

Making Indonesia climate action deliver through environmental democracy

Status
Underway
2
Planned end date

Completed programmes

Enhancing information transparency and inclusion through open parliament

Status
Completed
10
Planned end date

Making Indonesia climate action deliver through environmental democracy (Phase I) 

Status
Completed
10
Planned end date

Enhancing parliamentary oversight through public accounts scrutiny

Status
Completed
10
Planned end date

Supporting the development of an open parliament road map

In 2020, WFD co-created the second open parliament national action plan with DPR RI and local civil society partners with commitments to improve legislative transparency and information disclosure within the parliament.

Status
Completed
10
Planned end date

Protecting human rights through legislative scrutiny

Status
Completed
10
Planned end date

Supporting the development of open parliament action plans

Status
Completed
10
Planned end date

Key results

Provided legislative scrutiny workshops for over 40 MPs and local council members across four regions, leading to reviews of laws that discriminate against women, the LGBT+, religious minorities, and people with disabilities.

Trained over 50 legal drafters, 40 analysts and researchers, 35 staff members, and 20 auditors from 17 parliamentary secretariat bodies, 15 parliamentary committees, and 6 ministries on financial oversight, public participation, and accountability mechanisms.

Facilitated the engagement of over 70 academic researchers, 60 experts, and 40 civil society leaders in parliamentary processes with over 40% women participants, developing studies on narcotics law reform, introducing legislative scrutiny into law-making mechanism, and co-creating two open parliament national action plans.

Contact us