Islah Bahrawi Angry: Activists Imprisoned, Democracy Slowly Undermined

FAJAR.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) figure, Islah Bahrawi, expressed his anxiety about the increasingly deteriorating political and democratic situation in Indonesia.

Islah openly touched on various phenomena which he said were signs of the decline of democracy and civil supremacy.

Starting from the imprisonment of activists, intimidation of critical content creators, to the discourse on regional head elections through the DPRD.

“Activists are in prison. Critical content creators are intimidated into their homes,” said Islah on X @islah_bahrawi (30/12/2025).

He also touched on the potential for centralization of power in regional head elections which is considered to erode the democratic rights of the people.

“Regional heads may be ordered from above to be selected by the DPRD,” he said.

Not only that, Islah expressed his concerns about the direction of national defense and security policy.

He called the plan to form hundreds of additional battalions a strong signal of increasing militarization in the civilian space.

“140 additional army battalions will be formed. Militarization will be everywhere,” he stressed.

In his criticism, Islah also highlighted the role of law enforcement officers, which he considered to be experiencing a weakening function.

He said that civilian supremacy was being eroded slowly, while the security forces were losing their strategic role.

“Civil supremacy is slowly being followed. The police are becoming scouts,” he regretted.

Islah also pays attention to political and economic policies which are considered to have no clear direction.

He even made allusions to groups that have been fully supporting the current government.