ABSTRACT
Drawing on interviews, focus groups and a survey with people engaged in human rights activism across Indonesia, this chapter highlights that the term “human rights defenders” is not commonly used in the Indonesian sociopolitical landscape, and that there are high expectations associated with this identity. Men and women engaged in promoting and protecting human rights tend instead to refer to themselves as activists or by their professional identities. An ethics of tanpa pamrih (selflessness) undergirds the actions and decisions of defenders; they persist in their activism in the face of risks, threats and challenges, not just to themselves but to their families and colleagues. This chapter explores how defenders navigate a dynamic sociopolitical landscape shaped by the rise of Islamic populism, the drive for economic development, the privileging of corporate interests over rights claims, corruption, clientelism and reverberations from unresolved, traumatic human rights violations. Their experiences of threats and attacks demonstrate that the Indonesian state does not meet its obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the right of defenders to promote and protect human rights. As such, defenders rely significantly on support from their personal networks and on self-protection measures to maintain their human rights activism. Their mental and emotional wellbeing is a multidimensional and necessary aspect of self-protection that is not prioritised sufficiently and is difficult to achieve as they confront risks.
