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🇮🇩 Indonesia /Elections & Politics

Indonesians increasingly afraid to talk politics under Prabowo, SMRC says

From Tempo · () Indonesian

Translated from Indonesian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Indonesians are increasingly hesitant to discuss politics under President Prabowo Subianto's administration, a survey found.
  • The fear of political discussion has grown since October 2024, with 3 out of 10 respondents now expressing fear.
  • This trend indicates a decline in civic freedom and a growing public apprehension towards state actions.

A growing number of Indonesians are becoming fearful of openly discussing politics, according to research by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC). A survey conducted in March 2026 revealed that three out of ten respondents expressed fear when engaging in political conversations, a stark contrast to the more open atmosphere at the beginning of the post-Suharto Reformation era.

Saiful Mujani, founder of SMRC, noted that the public's fear of political discourse has intensified since President Prabowo Subianto took office in October 2024. At the start of his term, 51% of the population felt people were afraid to discuss politics; by March 2026, this figure had risen to 53%. Mujani described the current situation as a significant drop from the early Reformation period, where a similar scale would have registered a seven, now only reaching a three.

Further evidence of this trend comes from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) index. Indonesia's score for freedom of expression, which measures the government's respect for citizens' rights to express themselves, has fallen. Between 2000 and 2010, the score hovered around seven, but by 2025, it had plummeted to below five, averaging out to around four across various indicators. Mujani believes this indicates that civic freedom has reached a very low point.

At the beginning of the reformation, on a scale from 0 to 10, the score was seven. Now, it has dropped to only three.

— Saiful MujaniSaiful Mujani, founder of Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting, comparing the current fear of political discussion to the early days of the Reformation era.

The survey also highlighted public fear of arbitrary actions by state apparatuses and constitutional violations. Mujani stressed that this growing fear is a significant issue that needs to be challenged. The findings were previously presented on SMRC TV's YouTube channel in April 2026, drawing on a series of national surveys tracking public attitudes toward political expression over time.

These concerns were voiced during the Republic Conference in Cikini, Central Jakarta, on June 28, 2026. The event itself faced a sudden ban by the University of Indonesia (UI) at its Salemba Campus, with UI citing a failure to meet administrative procedures. The conference aimed to bring together various civil society figures to discuss pressing national issues.

So, from a seven, the score has now averaged out to four across all of these indicators.

— Saiful MujaniSaiful Mujani referencing the decline in Indonesia's freedom of expression score according to the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) index.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Tempo in Indonesian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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