Author Interview: Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia

Melissa Crouch

University of New South Wales

Tell us a little bit about the book. 

The book is concerned with the constitutional and democratic reforms made in Indonesia since 1998, but also the decline of democracy and return of authoritarianism in recent years, which poses a threat to the gains that had been made. My introductory chapter sets the scene with an assessment of why Indonesia’s Constitution is a transformative authoritarian constitution. But the chapter also offers broader conclusions about how the case of Indonesia suggests that transformative authoritarian constitutions may be limited in time and in the transformation they can bring about. The chapters are written by leading experts, many from Indonesia, who have been involved in. or observed, over two decades of legal reform in Indonesia. Key issues covered in the chapters include electoral reforms and the future of electoral dispute resolution; the gap between constitutional text and the ways state actors circumvent constitutional rights in practise; the role of the legislature in constitutional democracy; the military’s stake in constitutional reform; and the position (or lack thereof) of the Constitutional Court on LGBTQI rights, among others.

What inspired you to take up this project? 

Democracy in Indonesia has been in decline for several years, and this should be of concern to comparative constitutional scholars. Indonesia’s Constitutional Court issues decisions in Bahasa Indonesia, so unfortunately it is not accessible to an English-speaking audience. The volume seeks to make accessible to an English-speaking audience analysis by leading scholars from Indonesia and around the world with expertise on constitutional democracy in Indonesia.

Whose work was influential on you throughout the project?

Across several book projects on Indonesia, the scholar who has most influenced me is the late professor Dan S Lev (1933-2006). Dan S Lev was a US political scientist but also a committed Indonesianist whose work was based on remarkable, rigorous empirical field work. He was the leading authority on the politics of law in Indonesia of his generation. My earlier work engages with his ideas directly (The Politics of Court Reform, 2019) while other work (Women and the Judiciary in the Asia Pacific, 2021) was partly inspired by his work on the Islamic courts in Indonesia, which he recognised were an avenue for Muslim women to obtain a divorce. In addition to Lev, Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia is a title that implicitly refers to and borrows from the late Herb Feith’s book The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia (published 1957), which focused on the political period of 1949-1957. Herb Feith (1930-2001) was an Austrian Jew who fled to Australia to escape the Nazis. He founded Australian Volunteers International and was an accomplished scholar of his time. The decline of constitutional democracy in Indonesia, then, is not a new theme but an old one.

What challenges did you face in writing the book? 

Collaborative projects are always a challenge, but are also very rewarding with the right mix of people. This project began at a conference pre-covid, in 2019. I usually prefer to have an edited book published within two years of the conference, otherwise papers lose their relevance. Due to Covid-19, we extended the original deadline and the authors were remarkably committed to the project. 

What do you hope to see as the book’s contribution to academic discourse and constitutional or public law more broadly?

While political scientists have been debating the extent of and reasons for Indonesia’s democratic decline for some time, comparative constitutional law scholars have not. There is much that can be learnt from the example of Indonesia, and, as the book suggests, there is still the issue of just how far the decline of democracy and reinvigoration of authoritarianism will go. Right now, constitutional democracy in Indonesia literally hangs in the balance – with news last week again suggesting that the government may propose to amend the Constitution to extend the term limit of President Jokowi beyond the current two term limit. There are also wider calls to return to the initial version of the Constitution (ie a return to authoritarianism) and the interest groups which have publicly supported illiberal amendment – major political parties, key politicians, and importantly the military – remain key forces in politics. 

What’s next?

No more edited books from me. I have a monograph in the pipeline, which should hopefully be published sooner rather than later, but I’ll keep you in suspense...

Melissa Crouch is a Professor in the School of Global and Public Law at University of New South Wales Law & Justice

Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia is available from Oxford University Press. Use the code ALAUTHC4 at checkout for a 30% discount.