The Commission for Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) highlighted several things about the organization of The 14th Bali Democracy Forum which was held in Bali. This year’s theme is “Democracy for Humanity: Advancing Economic and Social Justice during the Pandemic”. In this event, 3 major issues discussed were poverty, inequality, and inclusiveness.

KontraS highlights that the climate for democracy in Indonesia is still said to be not good considering several indicators that are not working. Indonesia often echoes the enforcement of democracy in the life of its political system. However, in practice it contradicts the desired ideals. This can be seen by the many silences of people’s voices through legal products. Many human rights defenders who help uphold human rights in Indonesia have been charged with anti-democratic legal products.

Violations of democracy that have led to many human rights violations can be seen from the worsening militaristic situation in Papua. This can be seen from the number of civilians who were killed, many residents who fled so that the sense of security for citizens was lost. This is not suitable for demokratis country. In addition, the absence of state commitment to fulfill human rights can also be seen from the stagnation of ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. This causes problems in the fulfillment of the rights of victims of enforced disappearances in Indonesia

The government’s tokenistic and performative behavior can be seen with the holding of the Bali Democratic Forum. Through the event, the government seemed to want to show the international community that Indonesia is a country that implements democracy well without any obstacles. But in fact, Indonesia is still far from this. Indonesia is still far from the democratic values of equality, inclusiveness. This can also be seen from the omission of the Civil Society Organization session in the main event of the BDF. It is an irony for an event that carries the big theme of Democracy.

It should be, the BDF event can be a joint evaluation between countries related to the democratic situation and create good governance by not only celebrating pseudo-celebrations, but also concrete implementation of the promotion of democracy and human rights. Based on the above, KontraS urges the Government of Indonesia to actually implement the values of Democracy by:

1. Stop the persecution of human rights defenders and provide protection from all threats and resolve gross human rights violations that occur in various regions of Papua;
2. Immediately ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance;
3. Revoke or change regulations that are not in accordance with democratic values;
4. Implement international standards on human civil and political rights and implement recommendations from the international community including issues related to social and political rights.
5. Open the door as wide as possible for the promotion of democracy through joint evaluations and recommendations from both national and international civil society organizations by fully involving the civil society components.

Jakarta, 09 December 2021
Workers Body of KontraS

Fatia Maulidyanti
Coordinator