Indonesians protest against proposed changes to election law, threat to democracy

Protesters gathered on Thursday outside the parliament building in Jakarta with some waving banners accusing Jokowi of destroying democracy. Kompas TV footage shows authorities firing tear gas at protesters in Semarang, the capital of Central Java province. Security forces fired a water cannon outside parliament at protesters, a Reuters witness said.

There were more than 1,000 protesters taking part in demonstrations in the different cities, according to a Reuters report.

Online users including Indonesian celebrities have taken to social media to share an ominous image of the country’s national eagle symbol with the words Peringatan Darurat (Emergency Warning). The viral image was shared alongside plans from civil activists to protest against the parliamentary proposal on Thursday and Friday.

On Tuesday, the constitutional court lowered the barrier in terms of party representation for the nomination of candidates for regional elections, enabling smaller parties to run.

The change would enable prominent government critic Anies Baswedan to re-enter the Jakarta gubernatorial race in November after he appeared to have been hampered from doing so because of the previous law, which required parties to have a 20 per cent representation in their regional assemblies to nominate a candidate. Anies has indicated that he intends to contest the election.

The court also upheld the 30-year-old minimum age requirement for regional election candidates. Such an amendment would block Widodo’s 29-year-old son Kaesang Pangarep from running for deputy governor of Central Java in November.

However, parliament announced the next day reforms of the election law that would effectively nullify the constitutional court’s ruling – once again removing