It is not surprising if the public suspects that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's statement that the president is allowed to campaign and take sides is loaded with political interests.

Over the last few days, we have become witness to the emergence of a phenomena that is critical and full of wisdom from various campuses in Indonesia, which have voiced concerns about the state of our nation at the moment. It is as if they are responding to each other in articulating this truth.

Election observers, civil society groups and political parties have blasted Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo for potentially compromising the neutrality of the 2024 elections by saying he's allowed take sides in next month’s poll.

In 2023, Freedom House in Washington placed Indonesia in the rather red region in the democratic freedom index global map. Put simply, the watchdog institution considers Indonesia as still only half democratic, or not substantially a full democracy, with an index breakdown of 30/40 in the category of "political rights" and 28/60 for "civil freedoms".

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Supervisory Board began a series of ethics hearings on January 17 into 93 employees who are accused of soliciting illegal payments from detainees at the KPK's detention centre in exchange for prison perks.