Indonesia now has a procedural code that makes it considerably easier to designate, arrest, detain and convict critics. The new Code now stands as a looming deterrent to anyone with the tenacity to push back.

On 2 January 2026, Indonesia’s new Code of Criminal Procedure (Kitab Undang-undang Hukum Acara Pidana, or KUHAP) came into force. The government has presented it as a historic break with a colonial and authoritarian past.

On 26 June 2025, the Constitutional Court issued another momentous decision – the Separate National and Local Elections case. Bucking its own trend of consolidating elections, the court decided to split up national and local elections.

In late May 2024, Indonesia’s Anti-corruption Commission (KPK) began prosecuting former Supreme Court Judge Gazalba Saleh in the Central Jakarta District Court. On the surface, there appeared to be nothing unusual about this case. However, the decision the three judges handed down in Saleh’s case was anything but usual. They unanimously accepted his eksepsi, holding that KPK prosecutors had no authority.

Two bills currently before the Indonesian parliament raise real concerns about the future of democracy and the rule of law in Indonesia, even before Prabowo takes office in October. If enacted, these laws remove the last real checks on the power of the presidency.

On Valentine’s Day next year, Indonesia will go to the polls for its most important election in ten years.After months of uncertainty, Jokowi and his circle have come out strongly in support for Prabowo, with Jokowi’s son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, announced as his vice presidential running mate in recent days.

Problematic provisions on extramarital sex and cohabitation might have attracted global attention, but the new Criminal Code's provisions on "living law" are also a major concern.

Professor Simon Butt examines the hasty revisions made to the Law on the Constitutional Court, writing that the amendments have given too much independence to judges at the Court.