Indonesia falls 10 places in corruption rankings in 2025 as oversight weakens, campaign group says

Indonesia fell 10 places in an annual league table of global corruption in 2025, ranking 109th out of a total of 182 countries, a campaign group said on Tuesday, citing weakening civil society oversight.

Indonesia's score on Transparency International's "corruption perception index" fell to 42 in 2025, down from 43 a year earlier, Ferdian Yazid, a researcher at the group's Indonesian office told reporters.

The index is measured on a scale between 0 and 100, where 0 represents the most corrupt country and 100 the least corrupt. In 2023, Transparency International placed Indonesia in 115th position with a score of 34.

The index was sourced from surveys and assessments made by thirteen ratings agencies and surveys of experts and businessmen on issues such as the government's ability to eradicate corruption, nepotism and bribery and improve budget transparency.

Transparency International's Danang Widoyoko said Indonesia's fall in the rankings was caused by the increasing incidence of bribery and corruption cases.

"Suppressed civil liberties have contributed to the weakening of oversight of corrupt practices. Weakened oversight by the media and civil society has allowed corruption to become more widespread," Widoyoko said.

He also highlighted the revocation of the permits of 28 firms amid accusations of environmental breaches that worsened last year's Sumatran floods, which killed at least 1,200 people. Widoyoko said the revocation lacked transparency.

"This raises questions because (it is) being carried out without court process, audit, or giving companies a chance to explain," he said.

"Businessmen being interviewed perceived that nepotism still exists in the President Prabowo Subianto era... The system to prevent corruption is yet to be effective," Yazid said.

Indonesia's corruption perception index is at the same level as countries such as Algeria, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Laos, and Bosnia Herzegovina, he said.

Indonesia ranks lower than some other Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, East Timor, and Vietnam, but higher than Thailand, Laos, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Myanmar, he added.

Denmark was at the top of the index in 2025 while South Sudan ranked the lowest, Transparency International said, adding that 50 countries have seen their scores decline significantly since 2012.

-Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Editing by David Stanway/Reuters