The current political climate in Jakarta, marked by a president eager to avoid upsetting powerful constituencies ahead of the 2014 elections and a notoriously corrupt legislature, is encouraging reactionary forces to reassert some of their former influence.
This is not to say that Indonesia will return to authoritarian rule, but it does suggest that democratic gains may be increasingly hollowed out, with implications for Indonesia’s domestic and foreign policy.
Greta Nabbs-Keller takes a closer look at the power struggles that exist in Indonesia. Read the whole article from The Interpreter here.