Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo took office in 2014 on a tide of high public hopes that he would address the human rights failures of his predecessor. Widodo made commitments on past rights abuses, none have yet been backed with specific policy measures. Indonesia’s religious minorities face continuing harassment, intimidation and violence by Islamist militants. Indonesia officially tolerates local Islamic bylaws that violate rights of women, LGBT people and religious minorities. Abuses in Papua remain serious, including prosecution of peaceful political expression. Widodo has shocked many by implementing the death penalty on a widespread basis against convicted drug traffickers as a signature issue of his administration.

Andreas Harsono has covered Indonesia for Human Rights Watch since 2008, prior to which he helped found the Jakarta-based Institute for the Studies on Free Flow of Information and the Pantau Foundation, a journalist training organization also based in Jakarta. A staunch backer of the free press, Harsono also helped establish Jakarta’s Alliance of Independent Journalists and Bangkok’s South East Asia Press Alliance. Harsono has worked at the Bangkok-based Nation and the Kuala Lumpur-based Starnewspapers, and has edited Pantau, a monthly magazine on media and journalism in Jakarta. His articles have appeared in the NYTand elsewhere; his published books (in Indonesian Malay) includeJurnalisme Sastrawi: Antologi Liputan Mendalam dan Memikat (with Budi Setiyono) and “Agama” Saya Adalah Jurnalisme.

This is the fourth of six lectures in the series, "Indonesia; Culturally Diverse, Geographically Fragmented, Strategically Located."