People’s Court of Civil Society reveals 9 major sins of the government

During the 10 years of President Joko Widodo’s administration, there have been many repressive state actions against civil society, ranging from environmental destruction, shrinkage of space and rights for women, workers, and civilians, and an increasing number of corruption cases. This was conveyed by a number of civil society organizations in the Indonesian People’s Court, as an alternative legal dispute resolution mechanism due to the lack of space for democracy and constitutional enforcement.

They also accused the president of trying to maintain his power through violating the constitution by endorsing Gibran Rakabuming as Prabowo Subianto’s presidential candidate. Through this, the government only targets law enforcement on civil society and turns a blind eye to officials who violate human rights. This is the background for a number of civil societies to hold a people’s court, because civil society and victims who are fighting for their rights are not protected.

“Human rights and constitutional violations that occurred during the Jokowi regime show the decline of democracy and denial of the principles of the rule of law, leading to violations of the constitution. We are faced with violence, land grabbing, ambitious National Strategic Project (PSN) policies for the sake of national policy,” said the head of advocacy and network of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), Zainal Arifin in Jakarta (7/5).

The People’s Court listed nine of Jokowi’s sins during his tenure as president. They call it “Nawadosa”, including; shrinking space and forced elimination of communities due to Jokowi’s investment ambitions. They consider that the government uses the word eco or green to create an environmentally friendly image, but actually causes ecological damage and social problems.

Then, violence, persecution, criminalization and discrimination against people who demand their rights, crimes against humanity and continued impunity, as well as commercialization, uniformity and subjugation of the education system which has an impact on the chaotic academic system in Indonesia and the level of teacher welfare.

“The impunity that occurs in this regime provides space for the continuation of wrongdoing, because there is no punishment mechanism. So, the settlement must be submitted to a mechanism agreed upon by the community to eradicate impunity,” said Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) Coordinator Dimas Bagus Arya.

In addition, the government is also considered to be protecting corruptors, with weak verdicts against corruptors and the dismissal of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) employees who reject efforts to weaken the KPK. Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) noted that the worst corruption eradication occurred in the ten years of Jokowi’s administration. Of the many corruption cases with trillions of rupiah in losses, only less than 10 percent were returned to the state.

“Unfortunately, the president has no sense of responsibility to eradicate corruption cases. The government even cut its fangs (KPK) to eradicate corruption cases. In addition, nepotism and dynastic politics were also blatantly shown in this year’s presidential election,” explained ICW Researcher Yassar Aulia.

The same thing was also expressed by Transparency International Indonesia (TII), according to TII’s records the weakening of corruption eradication had an impact on legal certainty and the business world. TII analogizes it as a “revolving door” which means that government officials are businessmen and vice versa.

“The revolving door practice is common in Indonesia and is one of the things we emphasize the most in this People’s Court,” said TII researcher Bagus Pradana.

Another sin is the exploitation of natural resources and misguided climate solution programs. The Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) cited the massive exploitation of natural resources in Eastern Indonesia for nickel downstreaming projects, electricity solutions using coal, and the use of biomass which has an impact on cutting down forests.

“Today we mourn because the mining pit in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, has claimed the lives of two nine-year-old students. From 2011 to 2024, there were 47 victims who died in mining pits in East Kalimantan,” explained Jatam researcher Muhammad Jamil.

This number, he continued, did not include victims from other mining pits. Jamil said that other mining sectors also have many victims due to unfit working conditions. According to him, it is important to continue to demand justice and accountability from the government and mining businesses.

The People’s Court also challenged the Jokowi administration’s Job Creation Law, which has been in place for ten years. According to them, the Job Creation Law has caused workers to lose their rights, including the low wage system, outsourcing, harmful labor partnerships, and lack of safety protection in the workplace.

In addition, they also denounced the hijacking of legislation, including the ITE Law, Omnibus Law, Land Bank, Perppu Ormas, Minerba Law, and the new Criminal Code Bill (RKUHP). The People’s Court Forum said these regulations narrow democracy and increase violence against civil society. []