Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto waited decades for his chance to lead the country. The controversial former general finally won the office on his third attempt in a 2024 landslide election.

Since then, Prabowo has wasted little time moving against Indonesia’s fragile democracy, accelerating a process that began under his predecessor, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

As Australia and Indonesia grow closer, this matters. The two neighbours agreed on an important bilateral security treaty in November, and it is expected to be formally signed in the coming days during Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s trip to Indonesia.

Yet, the countries seem to be moving further apart when it comes to freedom of speech and respect for civil society. This could complicate matters for Albanese, particularly as Prabowo ramps up his crackdown on critics of his administration.

Indonesia’s vulnerable democratic system has been under repeated attack from government for most of the last decade. Under the administrations of Widodo and now Prabowo, a laundry list of actions have been taken to chip away at it. To name just a few:

the independence of the once-feared anti-corruption commission (KPK) has been profoundly compromised

blatant efforts have been made to stack the Constitutional Court

the army has been invited back into civil administration, with laws passed to make it possible

nepotistic appointments have been made to high public offices, including ministries, the central bank, the courts and even the vice presidency

unconstitutional laws prohibiting criticism of the government have been reinstated

laws have passed allowing the government to ban civil society organisations without judicial intervention

a new proposal has been made to end direct elections of local government heads.

Many predicted these events. Prabowo has never made secret his distaste for democracy and enthusiasm for the authoritarian New Order regime of Soeharto, his former father-in-law.

In fact, Gerindra, Prabowo’s political party, still has as its No. 1 objective reinstating the old constitution under which........

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