Indonesia should set example on safeguarding digital rights ahead of elections, Southeast Asian MPs say

Indonesia should set example on safeguarding digital rights ahead of elections, Southeast Asian MPs say

JAKARTA — As the region’s largest democracy, Indonesia should lead the way in upholding human rights online, particularly ahead of the upcoming 2024 general elections, Southeast Asian lawmakers said today at the conclusion of a fact-finding mission on internet freedom in the country.

Indonesia has taken great strides in democratic reform following the fall of the authoritarian New Order regime 25 years ago, but we are concerned that if current trends of restrictions on freedom of speech and expression online continue unchecked, this important progress will be lost,” ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights member and Malaysian Member of Parliament Yuneswaran Ramaraj said today.

“The internet is now one of the places where citizens and voters exercise their right to freedom of speech the most; if these digital spaces are closed this poses a risk to the freeness and fairness of the upcoming elections,” continued Ramaraj.

During the fact-finding mission, current and former parliamentarians from Malaysia, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste went to Jakarta and met with civil society organizations, journalists, and technology companies and also made visits to the Ministry of Communication and Information, the General Election Commission (KPU) as well as the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM). The mission culminated in a meeting with members of the Indonesian House of Representatives Commission I, which oversees communication and information.

One of the major findings of the mission is how the Electronic Information and Transaction (ITE) Law – particularly its articles on defamation – has been used by those in positions of power to criminalize and silence peaceful expressions of dissent. This can be seen in the ongoing prosecution of human rights defenders Haris Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti, who were reported under the ITE Law by Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Panjaitan merely for discussing allegations of the minister’s involvement in mining activities in Papua in a Youtube video.

The ambiguous provisions in the ITE Law are clearly being misused and pose a great threat to meaningfully discussion of political opinions online, which is particularly concerning with elections on the horizon,” said APHR member and Timor-Leste member of parliament Elvina Sousa Carvalho. 

APHR joins Indonesian civil society in calling on the Indonesian government and House of Representatives to enact a comprehensive revision of the law, and for authorities to halt the use of the law pending the revision. Continued prosecutions under the ITE Law would call into question whether the upcoming elections are truly democratic,” continued Carvalho.

Representatives from civil society and media also expressed their concerns about the increased monitoring of social media content, as well as digital attacks against human rights defenders and media organizations. These threats to freedom of expression online have caused a chilling effect, creating an atmosphere in which internet users are inclined to self-censor themselves in order to avoid legal harassment or online intimidation.

Civil society organizations as well as Komnas HAM have engaged in efforts to safeguard a democratic digital ecosystem, including by fact-checking disinformation about the 2024 election, conducting training for young voters, as well as engaging with state actors. However, many respondents have expressed concerns that state institutions are not opening enough room for civil society and human rights groups to provide their inputs in regulations that affect freedom of speech and expression online.

Elections are not merely about what happens on one day in a voting booth,” said APHR member and former Philippines member of parliament Sarah Elago. “Elections should be a truly democratic process in which all members of society, especially the marginalized, feel comfortable to openly and peacefully express their views and have meaningful dialogues about the future of the country,” Elago added.

APHR therefore calls on the Indonesian government institutions to increase public participation in digital freedom-related policy making and setting measures to promote a healthy and informed online discourse during the election process. We also urge state institutions, such as KPU, Bawaslu, and Komnas HAM, to uphold democratic principles and likewise prevent any backsliding in democratic progress,” said Elago.

Indonesia has often been considered as one of the most democratic and human rights-respecting countries in Southeast Asia. Considering this, and the country’s position as ASEAN chair, Indonesia should continue to set an example and not turn back from the progress made during the past three decades,” said Ramaraj.

Click here to read this statement in Indonesian.

Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia call for urgent action against the scourge of disinformation

Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia call for urgent action against the scourge of disinformation

MANILA – We, Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia, concerned with the spread of disinformation in our region and its deleterious effect on democracy and human rights, have visited the Philippines, often described as the “patient zero” of the disinformation pandemic, in order to study this phenomenon, meet stakeholders who have been victimized by it and seek effective ways to combat it.

ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) has conducted a Fact-finding Mission to the Philippines with two sitting members of parliament from Malaysia, Maria Chin Abdullah and Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen, and a former representative from Thailand, Pannika Wanich. The mission has served to throw light on the fact that disinformation not only endangers elections, but democracy at large.

Disinformation campaigns in the Philippines are often state-sanctioned, targeting members of the opposition, journalists, human rights defenders, and activists. 

These campaigns pose a direct threat to democracy because they are based in blanket accusations that generate extreme polarization by leveling down social complexities and imposing absolute dichotomies between enemies and friends, thus eliminating pluralism and the conditions for civilized dialogue, the cornerstones of a healthy democratic life. This has been shown clearly in the Philippines during the most recently held elections, when the widespread practice of “red-tagging”, accusations of links with the Communist insurgency, were used as weapons against political enemies, often leading to dire consequences.

“Disinformation often generates hatred, especially against vulnerable groups such as women. These campaigns are often strongly misogynistic, pandering to the worst societal prejudices against women and marginalized communities. The fight against disinformation is also the fight for equality and social justice, and civil society organizations fighting for the rights of women, LGBT communities and other vulnerable groups should play a prominent role in combating this problem,” said Ms. Chin Abdullah, also a member of APHR.

Disinformation thrives in environments where mainstream media, the traditional watchdog of those in power, has been widely discredited, and social media prevails as the main source of information. In the Philippines, 68% of the country’s population have regular access to the Internet, and there are over 92 million recorded social media users making the county a real battleground for disinformation. Filipinos are also more active on social media than their counterparts in any other Southeast Asian country, averaging 255 minutes of social media use per day.

The algorithms used by the social media giants generate “echo chambers” where users only find confirmation of their biases and are rarely exposed to contrasting opinions. In social media there are no journalistic standards, and opinions and facts mingle to the point of being indistinguishable. That makes the work of fact-checkers extremely important, but they can barely tackle the problem. As one of the participants said during a roundtable in our fact-finding mission, “fact-checking is five times slower than fake news.”

“The Philippine Parliament is urged to play an important role to investigate allegations of state-sanctioned disinformation campaigns and troll farms, and review or consider policies to monitor the social media giants and make them accountable while protecting people’s data privacy. But any legislation introduced as a way of tackling the disinformation pandemic should be limited and handled with extreme care, as it could be easily turned into censorship in the hands of authoritarian regimes, and it should never impinge on freedom of expression,” said Ms. Wanich.

Nevertheless, APHR welcomes initiatives to address the issue such as the formation of Task Force Kontra (Against) Fake News by the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC). We urge them to ensure transparency and table the results of such efforts in Parliament and make the reports public. 

Throughout the fact-finding mission, it was often repeated that disinformation in the context of elections began long before the campaign period. It was revealed that organized and coordinated campaigns of political disinformation had been going on for years before the latest polls, amid a backdrop of impunity and censorship. When stakeholders started to take action against this phenomenon, there was a realization that it was already too late and the extent of disinformation had already been well-entrenched.

“The disinformation pandemic, in the Philippines and beyond, is too big to be addressed with piecemeal measures. It is necessary to find both a vaccine and a cure that work on a massive scale. The fight against disinformation must be part of national agendas everywhere with governments, civil society, and media rowing in the same direction. These agendas should include campaigns of voters’ education, media literacy programs, well-calibrated legislation, and fact-checking initiatives,” said Mr. Yii Lee Wuen.

ASEAN parliamentarians urge international action to address escalating human rights concerns ahead of elections in Myanmar

NEW YORK – With elections less than two months away, Myanmar stands at a critical moment in its political transition. But without deliberate steps to address core human rights concerns, including support from the international community, the country risks veering from a path toward democracy, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said today.

On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the collective of Southeast Asian parliamentarians urged the international community to support Myanmar in addressing a number of issues that threaten to undermine upcoming elections and the country’s democratic future.

“Elections have the potential to be transformational. But we are deeply concerned about recent government decisions, which undermine the credibility of the contest,” said APHR Chairperson Charles Santiago, a member of parliament from Malaysia.

Among those decisions is the rejection of dozens of Muslim candidates for parliament, including sitting MP U Shwe Maung, who is in New York, along with other APHR members, to address representatives from UN agencies and missions.

“I wish I could say I was an exception. But the truth is that Rohingya, along with other Muslims in Myanmar, are totally alienated and excluded from participation in politics. And make no mistake: it is because of our ethnicity and religion,” Shwe Maung said.

“In any other country the rejection of an entire class of candidates would render the contest itself undemocratic. Yet some in the international community seem to view this as simply a minor bump in the road,” Santiago added.

“The international community, including the United Nations, must call out the Myanmar government and urge the Union Election Commission in Myanmar to reverse this deeply problematic decision.”

Several APHR MPs speaking in New York recently returned from a fact-finding mission to Myanmar. From 31 August to 4 September, the APHR delegation met with a variety of stakeholders to discuss key political and human rights issues facing the country. The delegation, which included parliamentarians from Cambodia, Indonesia, and Malaysia, visited Yangon, Kachin State, and Rakhine State, and learned about election preparations, concerns facing ethnic and religious minorities, and the broader climate for human rights.

At the UN headquarters in New York today, APHR released its end of mission statement, which provides an assessment of the political and human rights situation in the country in advance of elections this November.

“Overall, a lack of trust in the electoral process, particularly among ethnic minority populations, threatens to damage both the legitimacy of the vote and that of the next government,” the statement warned.

Among the issues MPs examined was the current situation in Rakhine State, including the persecution of Rohingya. In a report released in April, APHR warned of the risk of atrocities against Rohingya and called on ASEAN to take action to prevent them. APHR’s end of mission statement released today highlighted the concerning lack of action on this front since then, and warned of regional implications should the Myanmar government and ASEAN fail to act.

“Another regional migrant crisis looms if nothing is done to address the dire situation on the ground for Rohingya and other Muslims in Rakhine State and the political crisis that contributes to these conditions and promotes feelings of despair and hopelessness among affected populations,” the statement said.

APHR also noted concerning limitations on basic freedoms, including recently passed legislation that restricts the rights of women and religious minorities. Parliamentarians called on the Myanmar government to do more to ensure basic human rights, including freedom expression and assembly and freedom of religion and belief.

“We reiterate that a democratic Myanmar, where human rights are respected and protected and all people are treated fairly and equally under the law regardless of ethnicity, religion, or gender, is pivotal to the development of a mutually beneficial and truly people-centered ASEAN community,” the statement concluded.

 

Read the full end of mission statement or download a PDF version.