TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A survey conducted by the Institute of Research, Education, and Information of Social and Economic Affairs (LP3ES) in 34 cities revealed that the public is now becoming more afraid to express opinions, gather, and create a union.

LP3ES researcher Erwan Halil explained that most of the respondents or 52.1 percent agreed that threat to civil liberties was increasing, fueling fear among the public to convey their opinions and expressions as a vital basis of freedom.

“This condition is also strengthened by the performance of the government sector in which the freedom of speech or association gets a public assessment of only 59.2 percent,” said Erwan in a written statement on Thursday, May 6.

However, the public still intensively followed developments on social and political issues through mass media and social media despite the fear.

“The survey shows that during the Covid-19 pandemic, people are not apathetic about socio-political issues. People are concerned about issues considered important such as the Democrat Party conflict, social aid corruption, Asabri, the Makassar suicide bombing, as well as political parties and presidential candidates in the 2024 election,” Erwan outlined.

The survey involved 1,200 respondents divided proportionally based on the number of voters (adult population) recorded in the 2019 Regional Election. It was done using a multistage random sampling method with a margin of error of around 2.8 percent and a level of confidence of 95 percent. The data was collected on April 8-15, 2021, through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire.

Responding to the survey findings, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) researcher Firman Noor opined that public attention to issues such as political party conflict indicated that it was necessary to strengthen political institutions in the archipelago.

“The public’s high attention to social and political issues is very good to build rationality in democracy,” said Firman.

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DEWI NURITA