False Stability and Eroding Democracy: Political Review of 2025

In 2025, the illusion of political stability in Indonesia has presented a serious challenge to the country’s democratic foundations. While the surface political climate seems calm, beneath it lie worrisome patterns and mechanisms of lost public sovereignty. This is all unfolding amid the ambitions of political elites whose sole focus seems to be on consolidating power. A central phenomenon of 2025 has been the advancement of ‘political cartelization’. This means that different political forces, despite their differences, strive to unite their efforts to maintain control over the state. Although this approach is cloaked in concern for stability and development, it effectively undermines the idea of governmental accountability and can lead to a possible decline in democracy within the country. An important marker of this process has been frequent reshuffles in the government and key state structures, highlighting a strong centralized control…