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.

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.

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.