http://jakartaglobe.id/news/indonesia-less-democratic-jakarta-governor-race-report/
*Indonesia Less Democratic After Jakarta Governor Race: Report * Indonesia’s ranking in the 2017 Democracy Index dropped 20 places to 68th, thanks to the highly divisive Jakarta gubernatorial election. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta) *By : Anthony Furci <http://jakartaglobe.id/author/tnathalia/>* | on 12:55 AM February 01, 2018 *Category : News <http://jakartaglobe.id/news>, Jakarta <http://jakartaglobe.id/news/jakarta>, Politics <http://jakartaglobe.id/news/politics>* *Jakarta.* Indonesia’s ranking in the 2017 Democracy Index, published on Wednesday (31/01) dropped 20 places to 68th, thanks to the highly divisive <http://jakartaglobe.id/news/jakarta/religion-divisive-issue-2017-jakarta-gubernatorial-race-expert/> Jakarta gubernatorial election, the annual index's publisher, the Economist Intelligence Units, or EIU, said. Last year, Anies Baswedan, who is now Jakarta governor, defeated former governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama — now imprisoned for blasphemy <http://jakartaglobe.id/multimedia/ahok-sentenced-2-years-blasphemy/> against Islam — in an election marred by religious divisions <http://jakartaglobe.id/news/jakarta/thousands-212-protesters-rally-front-parliament-house/>. Last year's gubernatorial race saw Anies’s supporters play religion and race cards — Ahok is an ethnic Chinese and a Christian — to win the election. "Democracy in Indonesia suffered a setback following the [gubernatorial] poll in Jakarta," the report said. A key focus of this year’s report was press freedom, and the global challenges surrounding freedom of speech. Asia’s biggest emerging democracy, India, also suffered a significant drop in the index – from 32nd to 42nd. The Philippines ranked 51st and Malaysia 59th. Overall, Asia was the worst-performing region last year, with North Korea remaining bottom of the list. "It was a year of democratic backsliding for Asia," the EIU's director for Asia Duncan Innes-Ker said in a statement received by the Jakarta Globe.
