Press freedom in Indonesia fell six places in the latest ranking from Reporters Without Borders, which places Southeast Asia's largest economy below Afghanistan and Brunei in its 2015 World Press Freedom Index.

The lower ranking comes following a year of intense election coverage and just four months after President Joko Widodo took office promising to ease barriers to foreign investment and embrace transparency.

In the 2015 index, Indonesia ranked 132 out of 180 countries, with an overall score of 40.75 out of 100, up from 38.15 in 2014. A higher score indicates less press freedom based on metrics such as pluralism, media independence, self-censorship and transparency. In a related index of abuses, which measures the level of violence and harassment encountered by journalists and news organisations over the course of a year, Indonesia scored 27.08.

Indonesia was twice placed at the top of the global news agenda last year, once in July when Mr. Widodo defeated former special forces commander Prabowo Subianto in the presidential election, and again in December when an AirAsia Indonesia aircraft crashed into the Java Sea.

The ranking pits Indonesia lower than many countries in Africa and elsewhere in Asia but above most of Southeast Asia. Cambodia is one rank below at 139, with the Philippines - one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist - at 141 and Malaysia at 147. Brunei is ranked at 121, while Singapore, which in the last year has charged political bloggers with offences such as contempt of court and defamation of the prime ministers, is ranked 153.

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Indonesia falls in global press freedom ranking