Bivitri Reveals Authoritarianism Covered in Law, Legal but Can Be Dangerous

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – High School Academics Law (STH) Indonesia Jentera, Bivitri Susanti revealed, there are symptoms of the existence of laws that seem to solve the root of the problem but instead legalize corrupt and undemocratic practices.

Bivitri said that she put the matter into a themed article autocratic legalism published in Kompas Daily with the title “Authoritarianism Wrapped in Law”.

This was conveyed by Bivitri when highlighting indicators world justice project-rules of lawone of the indicators in measuring the corruption perception index (IKP) or corruption perceptions index (CPI) of a country.

This indicator highlights executive, legislative, judicial, police and military officials who use their positions for personal gain.

Also read: Indonesia’s Corruption Perception Index in 2022 Decreases 4 Points to 34

“So everything that is given a foundation law it seems to have legitimacy. So it starts with legalism,” said Bivitri at a press conference for the launch of the CPI in the Thamrin area, Central Jakarta, Tuesday (31/1/2023).

For information, the CPI measures perceptions of corruption in the public sector.

CPI was released by Transparency International (TI) by ranking 180 countries with the level of corruption in the world. A country with a score of 0 means very prone to corruption while 100 is free of corruption.

According to Bivitri, currently there are people who are aware or understand the law and know the loopholes for personal gain.

Also read: Corruption Perceptions Index Score Drops, Indonesian Democracy is in Serious Problems

In trouble autocratic legalism In this case, he highlighted how the restrictions on power were precisely trimmed.

“So it’s called autocraticthat is the opposite of democracy,” he said.

Bivitri said that there were at least four oversights that had been deflated, namely, the weakening of the DPR and the weakening of civil society.

Then, the weakening of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) through the revision of the 2019 KPK Law and attacks on the independence of judicial power.

Also read: 2022, Indonesia is Getting Closer to Digital Authoritarianism

According to Bivitri, the attack on judicial power occurred at the end of 2022, when a Constitutional Court (MK) judge was removed because his decision was considered displeasing to lawmakers.

“Four things to kill, four ways to control the tendency of excessive power,” said Bivitri.

“The trouble is that everything is done in the name of law in the form of legal products, so it seems as if everything is going well,” he continued.

Bivitri said, people are often complacent because there are so many policies that seem to have good intentions because legally they are legal and form laws.

However, within the legal envelope, according to him, hidden agendas that could be very dangerous.

Also read: Jokowi’s 3 Period Discourse, Claims for Democracy and Symptoms of Authoritarianism

He gave an example of the revision of the KPK Law which according to the MK was not wrong. The legal product is considered valid.

“Is it wrong to revise the law? According to the Constitutional Court, there was nothing wrong, there was nothing wrong at all, the revision was fine, legal and so on,” said Bivitri.

“However, how do we see the KPK now? Very different from 2019, “he said again.

Previously, TII released Indonesia’s corruption perception index (IKP) which fell 4 points to 34 in 2022.

In addition, Indonesia is in 110th position, down 14 rankings from the previous year at level 96.

Also read: Academics Remind Again the Threat of Authoritarianism Through the Issue of Presidential Tenure

Deputy Secretary General of Transparency International Indonesia (TII), Wawan Suyatmiko said, in measuring the CPI, his party uses nine indicators.

In details, as many as three indicators, three stagnant, and two indicators have increased.

As for one of the indicators that are in the spotlight is Political Risk Service (PRS) or political risk. This indicator fell by 13 points from 48 in 2021 to 35 in 2022.

Meanwhile, a decrease of more than 4 points indicates a significant change.

“That contributed to the decline in our CPI from 38 to 34 this year,” said Wawan.

Also read: Democratic Recession and the Face of Digital Authoritarianism in Indonesia

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