Entries by iis.fisipol
We are here, there, everywhere! – Shadow Report on Platform Work Standards in Southeast Asia
Thursday, 22 May 2025 – As the digital economy spreads rapidly across Southeast Asia, a powerful new shadow report—led by platform workers and their allies—calls out the growing injustices faced by ride-hailing and delivery drivers in the region. The report is a collective effort by the International Alliance of App-Based Transport Workers (IAATW), Asosiasi Driver Online (ADO) Indonesia, Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA) Cambodia, and the Institute of International Studies at Universitas Gadjah Mada (IIS UGM). Released on Thursday, 22 May 2025, in the lead-up to the 113th International Labour Conference, this report brings worker experiences, local organising, and grounded research into the heart of the global conversation on decent work.
“We are not just data points in an app. We are workers with lives, families, and rights,” said representatives from ADO Indonesia, which has been at the forefront of organising online drivers across major Indonesian cities. “This report is our way of breaking the silence—of showing the world what it really means to survive in the platform economy.”
The report centres on the lived experiences of drivers in Indonesia and Cambodia, two countries emblematic of both the promises and perils of digital labour. Through firsthand interviews, surveys, and grounded literature reviews, the report identifies three urgent crises: algorithmic opacity, the absence of social protection, and a void in regulatory governance. These structural failings leave millions of workers at the mercy of hidden algorithms, unpredictable earnings, and exploitative management systems disguised as innovation.
From Phnom Penh to Jakarta, workers report being manipulated by gamification techniques—badges, points, rankings—that create the illusion of choice while trapping them in unsafe, excessive work hours. “What they call incentives, we experience as pressure,” shared an IDEA Cambodia organiser. “Drivers are pushed to keep working, no matter how tired or sick, just to chase elusive bonuses.” The report frames this system as a form of digital forced labour, where behavioural manipulation replaces contracts, and risk is entirely borne by the worker.
IAATW, a global federation of app-based transport workers, provided the platform to connect these local struggles with international standards. “What’s happening in Southeast Asia is not a local issue—it’s a global failure of governance,” said an IAATW spokesperson. “Platforms operate across borders, and so must our resistance. We need international standards that treat algorithmic control with the same seriousness as wage theft or unsafe workplaces.”
Academic support from IIS UGM played a key role in framing these narratives within a broader political economy lens. “This is not just about technology—it’s about power,” said Dr. Suci Lestari Yuana from IIS UGM. “Our research reveals how algorithmic systems are designed to benefit capital, not labour. And the lack of state regulation enables this imbalance to persist unchecked.”
The report calls for clear, enforceable action:
- Governments must regulate platform labour through inclusive policies that recognise and protect workers’ rights.
- Platforms must uphold transparency, guarantee fair pay, and stop using gamification as a coercive tool.
- International institutions like the ILO must push for binding global standards on algorithmic management and digital labour governance.
- And above all, workers must be heard—not as data, but as political agents demanding justice.
This shadow report is more than documentation—it is an intervention. It puts the voices of gig workers at the centre of labour policy, and it challenges the global community to act. As the contributors declare: “Nothing about us without us.” Platform workers in Southeast Asia are not asking for charity. They are demanding justice, transparency, and a future of work that puts human dignity above algorithmic efficiency.
Read and download the full report here
[IIS Brief] Indonesia and Japan: Navigating Geopolitical Shifts in the 21st Century
The relationship between Indonesia and Japan has long been characterized by strong cultural and economic ties. However, contemporary dynamics require a broader geopolitical lens to capture the evolving nature of their partnership.
This IIS Brief highlights how the relationship between the two countries has expanded beyond trade and cultural exchanges to the area of strategic partnership in security, defense, and regional stability, as well as examines both countries positionality within the broader regional dynamics in the Indo-Pacific.
Check out our new released IIS Brief at ugm.id/IISBrief11
IIS Monograph Series #9 | Damai Pangkal Damai – The World Is Not Okay: Nonviolent Resistance in Indonesia and the World 2024
2024 was election year for more than half of the world’s population. Unfortunately, instead of being the year where democracy gets more consolidated, it may go down in history as the year where autocratic actors succeeded in consolidating their power through democratic mechanisms. If anything, this should be a good reason to up our nonviolent resistance.
In Indonesia, the year 2024 played host to thousands congregating at the “Garuda Biru” (Blue Eagle) rallies. In South Korea, Bangladesh, and Guatemala, civil resistance overthrew leaders that betrayed the spirit of democracy. Meanwhile, amidst repression, citizens of Iran and Afghanistan continued to resist, despite the need to lay low.
The World is Not Okay: Nonviolent Resistance in Indonesia and the World 2024
– Indonesia 2024: The Dark Knights Rise, diah kusumaningrum
– 2024 Maximalist Wrapped: A Mixed Genre of Maintenance, Persistence, and Anticipating Divergence, Dhania Salsha Handiani
– ”We are obedient to the leader!” The Curious Case of Pro-Government Non-Violent Mass Mobilization, Daniel Petz
– Unarmed Civilian Protection: A Radical Idea or Common Sense?, Huibert Oldenhuis
– Chaiwat Satha-Anand’s “Mission: Impossible” as a Muslim Nonviolence Scholar Who Engaged Nonviolence with the State, Chayanit Poonyarat
Download this Monograph through: ugm.id/IISMonograph9English
ICAN Calls for Stronger Commitment to TPNW Universalisation
Mr. Muhadi Sugiono represented ICAN in delivering a thematic statement on TPNW universalisation at the TPNW Meeting of States Parties in New York
On 5th of March 2025, Mr. Muhadi Sugiono, Senior Researcher and Lead Campaigner at the Institute of International Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada, represented ICAN in delivering a thematic statement on TPNW (Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons) universalisation at the TPNW Meeting of States Parties in New York. In his statement, Mr. Muhadi emphasized the need for states to accelerate their commitments toward nuclear disarmament. As nuclear risks continue to escalate, ICAN reaffirms its dedication to advocating for a world free of nuclear weapons. Below is the full statement delivered by Mr. Muhadi Sugiono:
ICAN thematic statement on universality, 3MSP, 5 March 2025
Excellencies, Distinguished Colleagues,
Each time that we meet, the TPNW community grows larger.
We take this opportunity to welcome and congratulate the four countries that have become states parties since our last meeting: Indonesia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone and the Solomon Islands.
We also take this opportunity to acknowledge the tremendous efforts of Kazakhstan, South Africa and Uruguay, among others, to advance universalisation of the treaty during the intersessional period.
One of the most notable initiatives in this area in 2024 was the African Conference on the Universalisation and Implementation of the TPNW in Addis Ababa, with the participation of 31 states from the region, including 22 that are not yet parties.
As South Africa said in its opening remarks to that conference, “Today, this treaty could not be more relevant given the dire state of the multilateral nuclear disarmament regime. The universalisation of the TPNW, its norms and fundamental tenets, is therefore vital.”
The African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security also addressed the conference, pledging the AU Commission’s ongoing support to AU members in the universalisation of the TPNW.
Various other regional meetings were also convened in 2024 to promote universal adherence to the TPNW, including among states from the Asia-Pacific region and Central Asia, in particular.
There are currently 25 states that have signed but not yet ratified the TPNW, many of which are on track to become states parties soon. We thank those signatory states that have provided updates this week on the current status of their ratification processes.
Beyond the states that have already signed the TPNW, around 40 others have indicated their support for the treaty in the UN General Assembly. Thus, there is still great potential to achieve significant progress in the short term towards universalisation.
We once again appeal to all states parties to prioritise this work, for each new signature and ratification makes the treaty more effective and powerful. To achieve the ambitious goals set out in the Vienna Action Plan, universalisation is essential.
In this process, states parties must continue to engage and change the views of those states that do not yet support the TPNW. As the Vienna Action Plan also provides, in addition to increasing signatures and ratifications, states parties have agreed to actively promote the norms, values and underlying arguments of the Treaty.
Please consider what more your country could be doing to advance these goals, including at the highest levels of government. Greater efforts are needed not just in New York and Geneva, but also in capitals.
ICAN stands ready to assist in this work in whatever way we can. We have partners in more than one hundred countries dedicated to raising public awareness of the TPNW and its underlying humanitarian rationale.
With the Doomsday Clock ticking closer to midnight, we must approach this task with a renewed sense of urgency.
What better way for states to commemorate the 80th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and of the founding of the United Nations, than by signing and ratifying the TPNW.
As our executive director noted earlier this week, exactly half of all states have now joined this landmark treaty, either as parties or signatories. We must spare no effort in bringing the other half on board.
Thank you.