2024 Indonesian Presidential Election: Human Rights Perspective

14-04-2024

Written by Dara Masita (South and East Asia Team)

Global Human Rights Defence

Introduction

The 2024 Indonesian election saw Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming (Candidate 02) as the next president and vice president in office. The Indonesian Presidential Election took place on February 14th, 2024, with voters abroad voting on February 10th, 2024. In addition to the voting of the President and Vice President, Indonesian citizens also voted for the House of Representatives. There are three candidates in this election: Candidate 01 (Anies-Muhaimin), Candidate 02 (Prabowo-Gibran), and Candidate 03 (Ganjar-Mahfud). Each of these pairs consists of the candidates for president and vice president, respectively. Indonesian citizens will choose one of the pairs to be their president and vice president. This election is different from previous elections because Generation Z can vote, which means there are different campaign approaches and priorities to be met.

As the world’s third-largest democracy, the 2024 Indonesian Presidential election is important not only to the island nation of 270 million citizens but also globally. As a newly industrialised nation, it was one of the determined six swing states that will be the future of global politics and an economic superpower by 2027. With that, this year’s presidential election is important in outlining Indonesia’s trajectory into the new age.

The Indonesian foundational ideology is based on the Pancasila, which consists of five principles: Ketuhanan yang Maha Esa (belief in the one and only God); Kemanusiaan yang adil dan beradab (just and civilized humanity); Persatuan Indonesia (Indonesian unity); Kerakyatan yang dipimpin oleh hikmat kebijaksanaan dalam permusyawaratan/perwakilan (democracy led by wisdom in deliberation/representation); and Keadilan sosial bagi seluruh rakyat Indonesia (social justice for all the people of Indonesia).

Indonesia is one country, but within it, there are 1,300 ethnic groups spanning over 17,500 islands. Thus, the Pancasila is a crucial philosophical theory as it unites the various cultures, tribes, and religions that exist in Indonesia. An ideal presidential candidate would attempt to provide all of the principles within the Pancasila.

The current president is Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle. He has been serving as the president of Indonesia for two terms of five years each, which is also the maximum amount of terms a president can serve. The current vice president is Ma’ruf Amin, and he does not belong to any political party. He has only served one term of five years, becoming the vice president.

From Jokowi’s reign, Indonesia has seen stable GDP growth of 5 percent each year of his term. His policies are centred around economic development, such as developing infrastructure and social welfare programs. As such, Jokowi’s work on the economic front is applaudable. However, in terms of human rights, Jokowi has made little to no progress, as stated by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

HRW reported that Jokowi failed to protect the rights of marginalised people, such as women, religious minorities, and LGBTQ+ persons. In December 2022, the Indonesian Parliament adopted a new criminal code that will enter into force in 2026, which violates the rights of the aforementioned right-holders by allowing minorities to be systematically targeted. Furthermore, Jokowi’s era saw the limitation of freedom of speech and was associated with his call for “improved supervision” of the implementation of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law. The law enables the government to monitor the internet activities of citizens as well as block access to electronic documents suspected of engaging in “defamation” of the government.

Furthermore, Jokowi’s cabinet has not fully addressed the human rights violations in West Papua. There have been cases in which the government authorities arrested Indigenous West Papuans for expressing their rights of self-determination and restricting travel access of foreign press, diplomats, and human rights monitors into the region.

The 2024 Presidential Election was seen as a hope for change in the human rights field. The three pairs of presidential candidates, Anies-Muhaimin, Prabowo-Gibran, and Ganjar-Mahfud, all have different ideas on what they will bring to the table regarding human rights protections. This article will report on the 2024 Presidential Election from the human rights point of view. It will review the candidates’ human rights stance as well as the human rights implications to come with the winner of the Election.

1 Candidate’s Background

1.1 Candidate 01

Candidates 01 consists of Anies Baswedan and Muhaimin Iskandar. This candidate is supported by the National Democratic Party (NasDem), National Awakening Party (PKB), Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and Ummat Party (PU). Three out of four of these parties are Muslim conservative parties. The slogan for Candidates 01 is “Indonesia Adil Makmur untuk Semua” (Indonesia is Fair and Prosperous for All).

The campaign promise of Candidate 01 is to increase the quota for Hajj (Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca), create Indonesia as a just nation, empower micro, small, and medium enterprises, and legalise the Confiscation of Assets Bill.

1.1.1 Anies Baswedan

Anies is a non-party candidate and served as the Governor of Jakarta from 2017-2022. His achievements include public transportation integration in Jakarta, the development of micro, small, and medium enterprises through his Jakpreneur program, and having Jakarta become the host of Formula E, which had an IDR 2.6 trillion economic impact.

However, he has faced several controversies. Firstly, he utilised “identity politics” in the 2017 Jakarta Gubernatorial Elections. Identity politics is when political activity is based on a particular ethnic group, social background, or religion. In this case, Anies was using his identity as a Muslim (as well as “native Indonesian”) to appeal the votes from the militant groups. Another controversy is his false promise to contain the flooding in Jakarta. Anies promised to build 1.8 million infiltration wells to absorb rainwater. However, the Climate and Energy Campaign Manager of Greenpeace Indonesia stated that the wells cannot be realised because the discussion on it has not been achieved.

Additionally, Anies promised and guaranteed that Jakarta floods could be taken care of within six hours, but in 2021, the Kebon Pala region was submerged by flood for three days.

The Confiscation of Assets Bill (RUU Perampasan Asset) aims to provide a way to recover state losses (asset recovery) so that the losses suffered by the state are not significant. The assets that are targeted will be from corruptors.

Another false promise was his campaign for the Jakarta Gubernatorial Elections, in which he proposed a low-income housing programme with no deposit. Nevertheless, this programme did not come to fruition because it did not meet initial expectations, such as the revision of the maximum income limit for participants (from IDR 7 million per month to IDR 14.8 million per month).

1.1.2 Muhaimin Iskandar

Muhaimin is currently the chairman of the PKB party as well as the Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives 2019-2024 period. When he was the Minister of Manpower and Transmigration, his notable achievements included passing legislation for the regulation and limitation of “outsourcing” in guaranteeing the rights of outsourced workers. Furthermore, he protected Indonesian migrant workers abroad – especially in the abuse of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia case in 2009.

He faces controversies as well, including internal conflict with previous Indonesian president Gus Dur in the PKB, refusing the direct appointment of the Special Region of Jakarta’s governor, and suggesting to postpone the 2024 Indonesian Presidential Election by one or two years in 2022.

1.1.3 Human Rights Stance

Human Rights and Papua

In the first presidential candidates debate set in December 2023, the issue of human rights was discussed. When asked about the strategy to resolve the human rights issues in Papua, Anies answered that the main problem in Papua is the lack of justice, rather than the violence (concerning the terrorist attacks) or the labelling of groups (pertaining to the separatist movement). He stated that the most crucial action is to achieve justice in the region. In order to do that, human rights issues need to be thoroughly addressed. Therefore, workers need to be

educated to uphold justice to prevent future human rights violations. Furthermore, facilitating dialogues between different parties is required in order to achieve a compromise.

Improving the Quality of Public Services to be Just and Equitable

In order to improve the quality of public services, Anies emphasised giving priority service to vulnerable groups, from people with disabilities to women and pregnant mothers, children, and the elderly, respectively. Additionally, the services provided should be transparent and measurable. There has yet to be any innovation in government service. Through digitisation, such as the JAKI app, services are measurable (e.g.when the report was made, and when it should finish) and more transparent.

Strengthening Tolerance in Indonesia’s Diverse Society

Anies believes that any legal violation must be punished, regardless of the perpetrator’s social or economic background. Furthermore, regarding talks about harmony in Indonesian society. In that case, every member of society should be included, and the State should not make an enemy of any member of society, even if they have different perspectives. The State should not regulate the thinking or emotions of society, and it should only regulate law and enforcement actions. There will always be violations and violence within society, and with that, there will always be a need for legal help. Anies proposed a program called “Hot-line Paris” where citizens can access free legal help online.

Indigenous Rights

In the fourth round of debate between potential vice presidents, the issue of indigenous rights was brought up, as well as the topic of agrarian and natural resource policies disregarding indigenous consent. Muhaimin stated that one of the efforts to avoid conflict between national development projects and the indigenous community is to completely involve the indigenous community in the decision-making process. The State should respect the indigenous community by giving them room for them to practise customary, cultural, and spiritual rights, and to give them the authority to decide how to build the developments.

1.2 Candidate 02

Candidate 02 consists of Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka. This candidate is supported by the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), the Party of the Functional Groups (Golkar), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Democratic Party, The Change Indonesia Movement Party (Garuda), Crescent Start Party (PBB), Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), Indonesian People’s Wave Party (Gelora). The parties possess diverse political identities, ranging from centre-right and nationalist, to Islamic-based, centre-left, and progressive. The slogan for Candidate 02 is “Bersama Indonesia Maju Menuju Indonesia Emas 2045” (Together Indonesia Progresses Towards a Golden Indonesia 2045).

The campaign promises from Candidate 02 are to stimulate the productivity of farmers, provide social prosperity cards (e.g. healthcare cards, basic food cards), increase the wages of civil servants (i.e. teachers, lecturers, healthcare providers, military and police, and state officials), develop villages, and provide a free lunch and free milk programme to 82.9 million underprivileged people.

1.2.1 Prabowo Subianto

Prabowo is the current Defence Minister of Indonesia (period 2019-2024). He had a military career and was the former son-in-law of the second president of Indonesia, Soeharto. This election is his third time running for president. His notable achievements are the modernisation of Indonesia’s defence equipment, the development of the domestic defence industry, and the contribution to economic stimulation and employment due to his wealth and ownership of various enterprises.

Prabowo’s controversies include being involved in kidnapping activists in May 1998. Indonesia’s National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM RI) concluded that Prabowo was the one who gave the order to “kidnap” 23 pro-democracy (anti-Soeharto) activists in the

May 1998 riots. Additionally, he was accused of atrocities in East Timor.Due to his records of human rights violations, he was banned from entering the United States for a period of time.

Another controversy is the failure of his Food Estate project. The Food Estate project is the Indonesian government’s response to the global food crisis. The 17,000 ha of rice fields and 600 ha of cassava plantations spread across Sumatra, Kalimantan, Papua, and Nusa Tenggara Timu have not resulted in food production.The conversion of land into plantations comes with an increased potential for deforestation. Additionally, the IDR 1 trillion funds for the project and the appointment of PT Agro Industri Nasional as the government contractor for the project, which is owned by Prabowo’s connections, are also being pushed for investigation. Furthermore, the environmental experts of the Agricultural Institute of Bogor (IPB) stated that a food system that is not community-based is problematic, especially when executed in a vulnerable peat ecosystem.

1.2.2 Gibran Rakabuming

Gibran is currently the mayor for Solo (2021-2026) and is also the son of the current president Jokowi. His notable achievement includes stimulating economic growth in Solo from -1.74 percent to 6.25 percent by 2022, the increase of tolerance level in Solo, and infrastructure development in Solo.

His controversies are related to the practice of “dynasty politics” as he is the son of the current president. The notable controversy against Gibran is the ethics violations of the Constitutional Court decisions. In Article 169(q) of Law Number 7 of 2017 regarding General Elections, it is stated that to be a presidential candidate the minimum age is 40 years old. This proves to be a problem because Gibran is 36 years old. When the provision was brought up for revision in the Constitutional Court, the Court interpreted that candidates below 40 years old are allowed to run for president or vice president if they have experience in the House of Representatives, as a governor, regent, or mayor. Furthermore, the Chief of the Constitutional Court, Anwar Usman, is Gibran’s uncle, which caused an uproar. With that, Anwar Usman was dismissed from the Constitutional Court because of this ethical violation. Another source of contention is the fact that he has minimal experience in running as vice president. He only has experience in office for two years as the mayor of Solo. Compared to previous Indonesian vice presidents such as Jusuf Kalla and BJ Habibie who had extensive experience in national and international politics, Gibran’s two years in office have not sufficiently tested his capacities.

1.2.3 Human Rights Stance

Human Rights and Papua

In the first presidential debate when asked about the topic of human rights and the situation in Papua, Prabowo responded that the situation in Papua is complex as there are separatist movements and foreign intervention. He claimed that it is within some entities’ interest to see Indonesia break up. His effort to withstand human rights violations is to protect the people of Papua from terrorist attacks, increase law enforcement, and accelerate economic development. He then praised Jokowi’s effort in pushing forward social and economic progress in Papua, connoting that he would continue the same when he became president.

Prabowo also agreed with the other candidates that dialogue with the people of Papua is important in ensuring human rights protections. Nevertheless, he stated that it would not be that easy because there are other factors at hand such as geopolitics and ideology.

Indigenous Rights

In the fourth presidential debate between the running vice presidents, Gibran’s response regarding the topic of the vulnerability of Indigenous people was that the Indigenous People Bill is still being pushed. Along with the Presidential Regulation 28 of 2023, around 1.5 hectares of customary forest have been recognised. Additionally, in relation to massive developmental projects, getting the local community, small and medium enterprises, and indigenous communities involved is crucial.

1.3 Candidate 03

Candidate 03 is made up of Ganjar Pranowo and Mahfud MD. The parties backing up this candidacy are the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), The United Development Party (PPP), the United Indonesia Party, and The People’s Conscience Party (Hanura). These parties are a mixture of nationalist and religious. The slogan for Candidate 03 is “Gerak Cepat Menuju Indonesia Unggul” (Move Fast Towards a Superior Indonesia).

The campaign promise of this candidate is to develop villages, improve the welfare of teachers and educational staff in the religious sector, guarantee a solution to build houses of worship, use Buton asphalt for all roads in Indonesia, implement fertiliser distribution, improve accessibility for people with disability, introduce the one poor family one bachelor programme, and introduce a free internet program.

1.3.1 Ganjar Pranowo

Ganjar was the Governor of Central Java (2013-2023) and is affiliated with PDIP.His notable achievements include increasing access to education, as he has built 18 schools that are free of charge, including food, uniforms, and stationary. Additionally, he started the Kartu Tani (Farmer Card) programme, which subsidises fertilisers to farmers, as well as gathering farmer data and farming commodities with the National Research and Innovation Agency to increase productivity, meet farmers’ needs, and project food needs. Finally, he has created infrastructure in Central Java, building three new airports and pushing applications such as Jalan Cantik (pretty road) to report road damage.

Ganjar’s first controversy relates to two cases of opening contested mining sites in two different areas. The government was sued by the residents in 2016, and the Supreme Court revoked the governor’s decision to grant environmental permits for PT Semen Indonesia’s mining activities. There were to be many ecological consequences if the mining activities took place, such as affecting the water supply from the groundwater basin and damaging the ecosystem and cave ornaments.

Secondly, two months before the U-20 World Cup was to be hosted in Indonesia, Ganjar refused to allow the Israeli national team to play because of his loyalty to Palestine. With that, FIFA took away Indonesia’s licence to hold the World Cup. Many citizens and Indonesian national team players were angry towards Ganjar because they took away Indonesia’s rare chance to participate in the World Cup, and the loss of economic projections if the World Cup were to occur in Indonesia. Nevertheless, Ganjar did not regret his actions.

Third, and finally, is his false promise to lower the poverty rate from 6.48 percent to 7.48 percent. Unfortunately, the poverty rate of Central Java in 2023 is 10.77 percent, with 3.79 million people living below the poverty line.

1.3.2 Mahfud MD

Mahfud MD is currently serving as the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs (2019-2024). He previously served as the Chief Justice of the Indonesian Constitutional Court, a member of the People’s Representative Council, Minister of Defence, and Minister of Law and Human Rights. He is affiliated with no parties. His notable achievements include his dedicated stance to eradicate corruption. He has been involved in exposing various corruption cases. In line with his stance on corruption, he is also adamant about preventing the weakening of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). When he was the chief of the Constitutional Court, the Court decided that the book ban carried out by the Attorney General’s Office as regulated in Law 4/PNPS/1963 was contrary to the 1945 Constitution because he believed in the right to communicate, store, and express thoughts through the creation of books.

His controversies include his refusal to conduct a judicial review regarding the Blasphemy Law and the Pornography Law when he was a part of the Constitutional Court. The applicant claimed that these two pieces of legislation threaten civil liberties and are contrary to the Constitution. Another controversy regards Mahfud’s statement on rape victims, equating restorative justice with a rape victim marrying their perpetrator to maintain harmony. Additionally, in a discussion in Indonesia’s Lawyers’ Club, Mahfud supported the House of Representatives’ decision to criminalise LGBTQ+ behaviour through the Criminal Code Bill. Finally, is his claim that there are no human rights violations after the Reformation era. He claims that the human rights violations happening in Papua reported by the National Human Rights Commission should not be believed.

2.3.3 Human Rights Stance

Human Rights and Papua

In the first presidential debate, Ganjar responded to the topic of human rights and Papua by stating that dialogue is important. Ganjar believes to solve the root of the problem, dialogue is crucial for all stakeholders to gather and resolve the issue.

Improving the Quality of Public Services to be Just and Equitable

Ganjar encourages vulnerable groups such as women, people with disabilities, and older people to be in the planning council of public services to ensure that the policies are aligned with their desires. Furthermore, the government should accept complaints diligently to continue to improve so the vulnerable groups can get affirmation. Moreover, Ganjar also agrees with Anies’ idea to utilise technology to provide public services.

Indigenous Rights

In the fourth debate between potential vice presidents, Mahfud MD answered the question regarding indigenous rights. He believes that addressing government bureaucracy and reforming the law enforcement agencies is important in realising indigenous rights. While there have been regulations in place, it is not as easy to tell them to implement the rules, as agencies do not want to implement them. There have been many mining permits revoked by the Supreme Court, but they have not been implemented after 1.5 years. Furthermore, Mahfud believes in the involvement of indigenous communities in lawmaking. Mahfud had revoked 14 Articles of the Coastal Areas Law because the indigenous communities were not involved.

He then called for the previous stagnant bills relating to indigenous land to be promptly implemented.

2 Election results

The General Election Commission released the official results of the 2024 Presidential Candidate on March 20th, 2024. Candidate 02, Prabowo-Gibran, won 96,214,691 votes out of 164,227,475 votes, around 58 percent of the votes. The pair placed first in 36 out of 38 provinces. The runner-up was Candidate 01, Anies-Muhaimin, with 4,971,906 votes, followed by Candidate 03, Ganjar-Mahfud, with 27,040,878 votes.

The landslide victory of Prabowo-Gibran is largely due to Jokowi’s support. Many Indonesians are satisfied with Jokowi’s performance, which allowed him to influence the citizens. With Jokowi’s endorsement of Prabowo, as well as his son being the running vice president, it is clear to the majority of Indonesian citizens that Prabowo-Gibran will be the next leader of Indonesia.

Furthermore, 7 out of 10 Indonesian citizens receive a middle to lower-class income. People stemming from the middle to lower class prioritise having food on the table and a roof over their heads. For this reason, Prabowo-Gibran’s campaign to provide free lunch and milk was very appealing to the people of this social group compared to Ganjar’s free internet programme or Anies’ Fair and Just Indonesia campaign. Prabowo voters believe that Prabowo can improve the welfare of the people until they are not poor and suffering anymore. However, providing free food only deals with the surface problem, and not the root of the problem, which would require efficient wealth allocation. Moreover, a lot of the middle to lower-class voters do not take into account the human rights problems because they are not familiar with them or do not feel it is their business.

Prabowo’s campaign team also utilised modern tactics to get the votes of the younger generation, targeting the generation that was not present when he rose to power under General Soeharto’s brutal regime. His social media campaign which included photos of his cat, Bobby, and Prabowo doing dance moves or shooting hearts at the audience painted him as a cute and cuddly cat-loving grandpa. This resulted in the younger citizens calling him “gemoy” (translated to cute). A number of the younger generation voted for him solely because he is cute and his campaign is enjoyable and approachable, disregarding his past human rights record.

Other than the lower-middle class and the younger generation, people in the higher social classes also voted for Prabowo because of Prabowo’s connections in this social class. He is supported by prominent powerful figures and conglomerates.

Candidates 01 and 03 are not accepting the election results. With the huge gap between the votes, the other candidates suspect tampering in the voting polls. Both candidates have protested the election results to the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court rejected their case.

3 Implications

3.1 Human Rights

Prabowo is known to be closely related to the second president of Indonesia, General Soeharto, because Prabowo was a part of the military and Soeharto’s former son-in-law. Soeharto is known as Indonesia’s dictator, ruling the nation for 30 years while committing human rights violations and setting up monopolies. Under Soeharto’s rule, several gross human rights violations took place such as the 1965 anti-communist purge, a series of extrajudicial killings in the 1980s, the Talangsari massacre, and the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists in 1998, among others. As previously stated, Prabowo was directly involved in the kidnapping of the pro-democracy activists.

Additionally, Prabowo was commander of the army special forces, Kopassus. The special forces were accused of human rights abuses which included the torture of 22 anti-Soeharto activists. Moreover, he was involved in one of the biggest massacres in Indonesian-occupied Timor Leste in 1983, Kopassus had the highest number of violations in Timor-Leste, where 300 men, women, and children died at the hands of his soldiers. On top of that, it was alleged that Prabowo was involved in the killing of the first president of Timor-Leste, Nicolau Lobato. Prabowo denies any allegations of human rights violations.

In the presidential debate, when asked about his human rights record, Prabowo’s answer always said that he is a defender of human rights and to not politicise human rights issues. Given Prabowo’s troubling track record and his apparent reluctance to address human rights issues, it is reasonable to speculate that Indonesia may experience a decline in state-provided human rights protections during his tenure.

3.2 Democracy

When Jokowi became president 10 years ago, defeating Prabowo in the polls, it was seen as a breath of fresh air because Jokowi was elected from outside the political or military elite. However, at the end of his term in office, Jokowi is claimed to be increasingly authoritarian by academics. Jokowi has demonstrated the misuse of his powers to manipulate democratic institutions. For example, his office revised the KPK Law which weakens the KPK’s authorities in combatting corruption, passed the Omnibus Job Creation Law which undermines labour rights and indigenous land rights, and misused the Constitutional Court to allow his son to run for president. These actions do not align with Indonesia’s Pancasila ideology.

Since Prabowo-Gibran is the continuation of Jokowi’s administration, the trend of quashing civil liberties to maintain popularity and authoritarian tendencies might be followed, especially when noting that, while running for president 10 years ago, Prabowo said he would take Indonesia in a more authoritarian direction. On top of that, the presence of dynasty

politics encourages notions of inequality as it shapes an uneven playing field of political competition and opens room for corruption.^[1] Jokowi’s youngest son Kaesang was recently appointed as the chairman of the Indonesian Solidarity Party, which further proves the existence of dynasty politics.

Nevertheless, Prabowo-Gibran is not the only factor that threatens democracy. Oligarchs who wield incredible power of presidential administration will support laws that benefit them to the detriment of civil society, such as the Omnibus Law.^[2] Prabowo’s landslide victory was made possible by the support of several oligarchs who viewed him as a political figure capable of advancing their interests, thus backing him in the election.

This shows that the democratic system in Indonesia is easily swayed. It is easy for leaders to disregard citizens in need in favour of the powerful ones. With that, Indonesians are concerned that a Soeharto-esque authoritarian rule will come back to Indonesia, even after the presidency term is capped, due to the overarching influence of oligarchs or the emergence of dynasty politics.

3.3 Rule of Law

The rule of law ensures that no one is above the law. Nevertheless, the 2024 Presidential Election has shown that Indonesia’s rule of law is simply bendable. Using the power of the Constitutional Court to allow Gibran’s vice presidential candidacy because his uncle was the Chief Justice and his father was president shows flagrant disrespect for the rule of law. During Jokowi’s presidency, he bent the rule of law in favour of the ruling elite, by changing the KPK Law, for instance.

Prabowo-Gibran have enjoyed the privilege to be above the law. To ensure these leaders respect the rule of law, particularly considering past violations often favouring only those in power, robust mechanisms for accountability should be placed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the 2024 Indonesian Presidential Election highlights Indonesia’s political system. With the victory of Prabowo and Gibran, the Indonesian citizens voted for a familiar face and instant gratification to their problems, compared to Anies and Muhaimin who are willing to address the root of the nation’s problem by making Indonesia more just and equitable, or Ganjar and Mahfud who are determined to improve the welfare of Indonesian citizens. With Prabowo and Gibran, Indonesia is in good hands in terms of economic growth. At the same time, various implications loom over the civil liberties of Indonesians as their new president has a history of human rights violations and is complicit in deteriorating democracy and the rule of law. As we progress, it is anticipated that Prabowo and Gibran will uphold the principles of Pancasila and honour the expectations of the world’s third-largest democracy.

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