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Ina Parlina and Desy Nurhayati

The Jakarta Post

Publication Date : 08-10-2014

Eleven of 14 civil society groups invited to join the Bali Civil Society Forum (BCSF), a side event at the annual intergovernmental Bali Democracy Forum (BDF), have rejected the invites and criticised President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as being unqualified to host the event.

Yudhoyono has come under pressure for allowing the passage of the Regional Elections (Pilkada) Law, which abolished direct local elections, although he later issued a government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) to reinstate direct local elections in response to a nationwide outcry.

It is the first time the BDF, which was initiated by Yudhoyono in 2008, has invited civil society organisations (CSOs) to join the event through the BCSF, scheduled to run from Tuesday to Thursday.

This years BDF will be the last for Yudhoyono, who is expected to leave office on Oct 20.

Delegations from 81 countries, including six ministers, six deputy ministers, 61 officials and four international organisations, are expected to attend the forum on Friday.

The 11 CSOs include several democracy and policy advocacy groups, as well as the Civil Society Alliance for Democracy (Yappika), the Center of Indonesian Legal and Policies Studies (PSHKI), the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and corruption watchdog Transparency International Indonesia (TII).

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Civil groups boycott Yudhoyonos democracy forum in Bali