Indonesia’s Widodo leaves behind a hollowed-out democracy

As Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo (Jokowi) prepares to leave office, Indonesia is still routinely lauded as one of Asia’s most important democracies.

Jokowi was first elected, in 2014, on the promise of breaking with the old Jakarta elite and making government more responsive to ordinary people. He was backed by many ardent supporters of Indonesia’s Reformasi movement.

This movement brought down the authoritarian leader Suharto in 1998 and pushed a transition to democracy in the years that followed. But Jokowi has overseen a serious period of democratic backsliding.

Under his watch, the Indonesian government has hobbled democratic control institutions. This includes Indonesia’s once-lauded Corruption Eradication Commission, abbreviated as KPK.

Security agencies such as the army and the police have begun to resume a political role. The government has banned major Islamic organizations. Civil society groups speak of a dramatically narrowed civic space.

They complain, for example, about the government’s increasing reliance on the Electronic Information and Transactions Law to prosecute critics of the government for defamation and its growing willingness to use violent means to respond to protests.

Jokowi’s opponents in the political elite are routinely investigated for corruption and other alleged wrongdoing.

In last February’s presidential election, there were widespread reports the police and other agencies were pressuring community leaders to mobilize the vote for Jokowi’s preferred candidate, Prabowo Subianto.

How did a man who was once seen as a “new hope” for Indonesian democracy end up here?The answer is part of a global story that has become broadly familiar in recent years.

These days, it is generally not