Over the last decade, there has been a decline in the quality of Indonesian democracy. This has been accompanied by rising Muslim conservatism and the undermining of major democratic institutions. Whether Indonesia's democratic model is now consolidated or reversed will have enormous ramifications for Australia. The Indonesia Democracy Hallmark Research Initiative focused on these themes through core three research clusters: politics, rights, and Islam and democracy.
About
Indonesia is the world's fourth largest country by population and the largest Muslim society, and sees itself as an emerging new power. Indonesia’s location between Asia, the Pacific and the south means it plays a vital role in Australia’s regional security. The Indonesia economy continues to grow rapidly, although investment and trade with Australia remains very weak despite an ambitious free-trade agreement. Nevertheless, the possibilities for increased commercial engagement are obvious.
Maintaining relations with Indonesia is therefore critical for Australia's economic and regional stability. This will become increasingly challenging if the checks and balances in Indonesian democracy remain incomplete or deteriorate further. So, a thorough understanding of Indonesian governance is an urgent need for policymakers, law enforcement agencies and aid agencies.
The Indonesia Democracy Hallmark Research Initiative (IDeHaRI) was created in 2019 to respond to these needs and develop deeper understandings across disciplines of Indonesia’s fragile democracy. Research through the initiative assessed Indonesia's democratic system and the challenges it faces, and how Islam interacts with liberal democracy.
The Initiative strengthened and expanded interdisciplinary partnerships across the university and with colleagues in Indonesia and beyond, and helped deepen Australian understandings of its giant neighbour at a time of rapid and challenging change.
Outcomes
Visitors and conferences
IDeHaRI had planned to bring a leading Indonesian public or scholarly figure to Melbourne each year throughout the life of the Initiative and to hold a major conference each year.
It achieved such a visit in the first year of the Initiative, inviting Dr Dede Oetomo, lecturer at Airlangga Foundation and founder of a leading Indonesian LGBT NGO, GAYa NUSANTARA Foundation, to Melbourne. Dr Oetomo spoke on the topic, ‘Do Indonesian LGBTI People Have a Place at the Reformasi Table’, at time when sexual minorities in Indonesia were increasingly being targeted by conservative groups.
After 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic made visits impossible, but in 2023, IDeHaRI was able to support the visit to Melbourne by Miegunyah Fellow and Melbourne Honorary Professor, Dr Jimly Asshidiqie. Founding Chief Justice of Indonesia’s Constitutional Court and leading jurist and statesperson, Professor Asshidiqie gave a trenchant critique of democratic decline in Indonesia and its causes, which attracted international attention.
The first major IDeHaRI public conference was well-attended: ‘The 2019 Indonesian Elections: Electoral Accountability and Democratic Quality’. Organised by Dr Dave McRae (Asia Institute), together with the Melbourne Law School, this event saw prominent Indonesian politicians, activists and scholars offer insights into what had been deeply polarising elections, where identity politics focused on religion had played a major part.
Covid-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions from March 2020 until October 2021 meant that IDeHaRI conferences and workshops had to go online. This resulted in less one-on-one informal interaction with colleagues in Indonesia but a positive side-effect was that it enabled the Initiative to engage with much bigger audiences in Indonesia, reaching new communities and finding new networks.
The subjects chosen for these conferences were topical, developed in consultation with Indonesian partners and responding to events in Indonesia as they took place:
- ‘Covid-19: Assessing Indonesia’s Response’, October 2020
- ‘Islam and Covid-19 in Indonesia’, November 2021
- ‘Reform or Regression? Amending Indonesia’s Criminal Code’, December 2022
IDeHaRI also co-hosted a number of seminars and small conferences with colleagues from a range of faculties across the university.
Indonesia at Melbourne
In every year since its foundation, IDeHaRI was a major funder of the innovative Indonesia at Melbourne blog, together with the popular Talking Indonesia podcast (which the blog hosts).
Together, these sites cover a wide field of social, political and cultural issues in Indonesia, including democratic politics and religious issues. Many of the blog’s posts showcase research by university staff and their Indonesian collaborators.
Surprisingly for a blog written in English, Indonesia at Melbourne has found well over half its audience in Indonesia, and has now become the university’s principal online interface with Indonesia. The blog has now secured funding for the next five years.
Seed-funded research
IDeHaRI offered seed funding grants on a competitive basis to fund interdisciplinary research projects by University of Melbourne staff, to work jointly with external Indonesian collaborators on projects that dealt with the key initiative themes of politics, rights and Islam and democracy, focusing where possible on contemporary developments.
From 2019 to 2021, IDeHaRI provided eighteen seed funding grants to staff from the:
- Faculty of Arts (Asia Institute, Historical and Philosophical Studies, Social and Political Science, School of Culture and Communication)
- Faculty of Business and Economics
- Graduate School of Education
- Faculty of Science (Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences; Environmental Science; School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences; Geography, Demography and Population; Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences)
- Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (the Nossal Institute for Global Health)
- Melbourne Law School.
Staff paired with colleagues from Indonesian universities and NGOs, and researched a wide range of topics, including: reproductive rights, Islamic populism, contemporary film as a platform for democracy, health policy, the impact of Covid-19 on reproductive health, ecological restoration and youth, land tenure conflict, the politics of memory, drug rehabilitation services, LGBT issues, HIV/AIDS, teaching religious tolerance, and forced evictions.
Many recipients of the grants had planned to spend a large portion of the grant on travel for field research but, as with the visitors and conferences, a new means of research needed to be developed during Covid-19 lockdowns and travel bans. Many recipients therefore used the grants to employ research assistants in Indonesia.
The seeding grants have led to publications, conferences and on-going collaborations between colleagues in Australia and Indonesia.
2021 Seed funding recipients
Birthing on Instagram: Analysing discourse on reproductive rights and autonomy in Indonesia - Meghan A Bohren, Rana Islamiah Zahroh, Marc Cheong and Caroline Homer (Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Nossal Institute for Global Health) with Ova Emilia (University of Gadjah Mada), Fitiriana Ekawati (University of Gadjah Mada and the University of Melbourne) and Ana Pilar Betran (World Health Organization)
Precarity and Islamic populism in Indonesia - Vedi Hadiz (Asia Institute), Diatyka (Tyka) Widya Permata Yasih (University of Indonesia)
Memories of HIV/AIDS as lens on political change in Indonesia - Benjamin Hegarty (Social and Political Sciences, Arts Faculty) with Teuku Ferdiansyah Thajib (KUNCI Study Forum and Collective, Yogyakarta)
Contemporary film as a platform for democracy - Edwin Jurriëns and Jemma Purdey (Asia Institute) with Novi Kurnia (Universitas Gadjah Mada)
The politics of health policy in Indonesia - Andrew Rosser (Asia Institute) with Luky Djani (University of Indonesia)
2020 Seed funding recipients
The amplification effect: Tracing the impact of COVID-19 on the sexual and reproductive health and rights of vulnerable Indonesian communities - Linda Bennett, with Setiyanti Marta Dewi (Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Nossal Institute for Global Health) with Evi Sukmaningrum and Ignatius (Gambit) Praptoraharjo (AIDS Research Centre, Atma Jaya University)
Leading the change: Towards a new framework of girls’ citizenship in Indonesia - Annisa Beta (Arts, School of Culture and Communication) with Ryan Febrianto (PUSKAPA or Centre for Child Protection and Wellbeing, University of Indonesia)
Engaging rural youth in food sovereignty and agro-ecological restoration in Central Java - Andrea Rawluk (Environmental Science) and Anna Sanders (School of Forest and Ecosystem Sciences) and Lilis Mulyani (Melbourne Law School) with Gutomo Bayu Aji (LIPI or Indonesian Institute of Sciences)
Can national policy reform reduce the incidence of fire and land tenure conflict over areas of tropical peatlands? Insights from Katingan District, Central Kalimantan - Anna Sanders (School of Forest and Ecosystem Sciences), Wolf Dressler (Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences) and Tessa Toumbourou (School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystems Sciences) with Suraya Afiff (University of Indonesia)
The politics of memory: Decolonising history in Indonesia - Ken Setiawan (Asia Institute) and Katharine McGregor (Historical and Philosophical Studies) with Sadiah Boonstra (Eko’s Dance Company, 2020 Faculty of Arts Asia Scholar, AsiaTopa Curator) and Abdul Wahid (University of Gadjah Mada)
2019 Seed funding recipients
An evaluation of drug rehabilitation services in Indonesia - Lisa Cameron, with Jenny Williams (Faculty of Business and Economics) with Firman Witoelar (Australian National University) and Wayan Suiastini (SurveyMeter)
A critical discourse study of Indonesian media reporting on LGBT issues - Michael Ewing (Asia Institute) with Ryan Korbarri (Arus Pelangi)
LGBT Rights and Public Health in Indonesia: View from the regions - Benjamin Hegarty (Asia Institute) with Sandeep Nanwani (UN Population Fund and Yayasan Kebaya)
Shrinking civic space in Indonesia? A survey approach - Dave McRae (Asia Institute) and Robertus Robet (Universitas Negeri Jakarta (visiting scholar, CILIS); Ihsan Ali-Fauzi (PUSAD Paramadina)
Teaching religious tolerance and democratic attitudes in Indonesia - Anne Suryani, with John Polesel (Centre for Vocational and Educational Policy, Melbourne Graduate School of Education) with Anindito Aditomo (Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education, Germany) and Teguh Wijaya Mulya (University of Surabaya)
Forced evictions and the family: Case studies from Rawa Bebek, Jakarta - Ariane Utomo, with Brian Cook (Demography and Population Geography, Faculty of Science) with Clare Siagian (PUSKAPA or Centre for Child Protection and Wellbeing, University of Indonesia and Australian National University)
People
Initiative Chair
Professor Tim Lindsey, Melbourne Law School
Initiative Deputy Chair
Dr Dave McRae, Asia Institute
Academic Convenor
Dr Helen Pausacker, Melbourne Law School
Steering Committee
Associate Professor Linda Bennett, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Professor Vedi Hadiz, Asia Institute
Associate Professor Kate McGregor, School of History and Philosophical Studies
Professor Andrew Rosser, Asia Institute
Professor Adullah Saeed, Asia Institute
Dr Ken Setiawan, Asia Institute
Banner image: M Risyal Hidayat / Antara
First published on 27 April 2022.
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