The upcoming 2024 election has momentum to elect a presidential candidate who can protect civil liberties. This simultaneous election is also a moment to elect legislative candidates who support legislation and have aspirations to maintain civil liberties. A number of cases show that the reduction in civil liberties is caused by state officials using constitutional channels, which hopefully will not be carried out by elected state officials in the 2024 elections.
"In the civil liberties component, we need to assess and decide which candidates for public office we will elect later who are committed to preventing Indonesian democracy from falling into a new model of autocracy ecosystem," said a researcher at the Department of Politics and Social Change, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Nicky)Fahrizal, in the discussion "National Political Update: 2024 Election, Party Competition Map, and Security Situation in Papua," at the CSIS Auditorium, Central Jakarta (25/9).
He said freedom of expression had not worked well. There are still many problems with academic freedom, gaining access to information, and guaranteeing the protection of personal information.
"In the civil liberties component, it is necessary for us to assess and decide which candidates for public office we will elect later who are committed to preventing Indonesian democracy from falling into a new model of autocracy ecosystem. "These symptoms are starting to be felt in the context of today's constitutional democracy," said Nicky.
Furthermore, Nicky explained, restrictions on civil liberties use valid legal instruments, establish legal regulations that limit civil society, and use cyber attacks against opposition groups and critical groups. Even though civil liberties are constitutionally strongly guaranteed in the constitution, in its implementation, some of these freedoms are not implemented properly.
"In the 2024 election, we will try to ensure that these symptoms do not get stronger by electing leaders who are committed to constitutional democracy and have a strong commitment to a healthy political culture," he said.
Apart from that, Nicky added, quality legislative elections (Pileg) will determine the extent to which the parliament or DPR represents the aspirations of the people. Because a healthy and qualified parliament will carry out its oversight function over the government and discuss draft laws well,
According to him, there is a tendency that it should become a political issue, but instead it becomes a legal issue. So many laws submitted to the Constitutional Court (MK) are actually political issues. Nicky gave an example regarding the age limit for presidential or vice presidential candidates.
"The Constitutional Court should discuss legal issues of constitutionality but also discuss political issues, which should be debated in parliament. "So the Constitutional Court is drawn to discuss political issues, so the constitution often has the potential to be co-opted by the powers that be," he concluded. []
