TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bonar Tigor Naipospos, Deputy Chairman of Setara Institute, said that the Institute has delivered notes related to declining performance index of human rights shown by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration.

"[The notes] are about the freedom of expression and association, as well as the freedom of religion," Bonar said at his office in Jakarta on Monday, December 12, 2016.

From November 5 to December 5, 2016, Setara Institute conducted a survey on 202 respondents, comprising of experts, activists, public figures, and academicians, in 19 provinces across Indonesia. The survey was aimed at measuring the government's performance in the field of human rights.

Eight indicators were used in the survey, namely the settlement of past human rights crimes, freedom of expression and association, freedom of religion, security rights, death penalty removal, eradicationof discriminatory treatment, economic, social and cultural rights, human rights national action plan, and human rights institution performance. Of the eight indicators, the indexes for freedom of expression and religion had declined.

Bonar revealed that the index for freedom of expression and association dropped from 2.18 in 2015 to 2.1 in 2016. In addition, the index for freedom of religion declined from 2.57 in 2015 to 2.47 in 2016.

Bonar explained that the declining indexes were apparent from restrictions of freedom of expression, for instance criminalization of human rights activists, Papua residents and journalists. Setara Institute recorded that the highest number of human rights violations occurred in Papua, where 29 people were criminalized, 2,397 people were arrested during protests, 13 people were killed, 68 were shot and two murder attempts in 2016.

In addition, the passing of the Law on Information and Electronic Transactions triggered negative sentiment against the freedom of expression in the future. Bonar argued that the Law has the potential to violate human rights because it somewhat restricts pwoplw in expressing their opinion through social media.

Another member of the Setara Institute Sudarto, said that the declining index for freedom of religion was reflected by the government's reluctance in addressing religious issues. For instance, Sudarto added, Ahmadiyah followers in Kuningan, West Java, were viewed to have violated the law since many of them could not obtain identity cards.

Sudarto suggested that the government must take measures to revoke any regulations that violate human rights.

DANANG FIRMANTO