How the death of a delivery driver triggered Indonesia

Demonstrators have been killed, burned buildings and houses of caught politicians like anti -government disorders spread through Indonesia – and the authorities react with force.

Mass demonstrations, fueled by misfortunes of the cost of living and the frustration of the public in the face of the political elite, first broke out in Jakarta on August 25 to condemn what many considered as compensation for remuneration and excessive housing for parliamentarians.

At the end of the week, things had boiled violence. Thursday evening, after climbing the clashes between the demonstrators and the authorities, the Jakarta police ran and killed the 21 -year -old motorcycle engine driver, Affan Kurniawan.

President Prabowo Suubianto and the police chief apologized for his death – but that has fueled additional dissatisfaction which has now spread to various corners of the archipelago, from Western Java to the islands of Bali and Lombok.

On Monday, at least seven people died during the demonstrations, according to the Indonesian Minister for the Coordination of Economic Affairs.

The main trigger for demonstrations was the Indonesian government’s decision to raise the allowance for national parliamentarians.

The local media last month indicated that they had been paid more than 100 million rupees (£ 4,499; $ 6,150) per month – more than 30 times the average national income – including a substantial housing allowance.

Meanwhile, everyday Indonesians struggled due to a cost of living crisis.

“While the government undertook austerity measures, and at a time when citizens feel economically unsafe, the idea that the already rich political class of Indonesia would have their income washing people filled with rabies, and they have spread in the streets to express this rage,” said Dr. Eve Warburton, director of the Indonesia Institute of the Australian University, told the BBC.

These demonstrations made a ramp at death after the death of Affan and have since grown to encompass the problems of brutality and police responsibility.

But there are other systemic problems that stimulate the anger of the public: political corruption, social inequalities and the economic winds of which the rich and the powerful seem unjustly isolated.

“The elites seem to cloister in a luxury life – as we can see in the exorbitant advantages received by parliamentarians – the sense of people’s justice,” said Vedi Hadiz, professor of Asian studies at the Asian Institute of the University of Melbourne.

In an attempt to repress the demonstrations nationwide, President Prabowo announced on Sunday that several advantages funded by the State granted to politicians would be rolled, including the size of certain allowances.

Although the move was greeted by the demonstrators, some suggest that it is not going far enough.

Herianto, a former central coordinator of the Union of Students in All-Indonesian, told the BBC that the announcement was “a step in the right direction, but that it does not deal with the deep causes of dissatisfaction”.

“This is not only a question, but a long-standing concern about inequalities, governance and responsibility,” he said. “Symbolic changes are important, but people expect deeper reforms, especially in the fields that affect ordinary citizens such as agricultural policy, education and fair economic opportunities.

“The ultimate objective is to put pressure for more responsible, transparent and focused governance.”

At the same time as the reduction in the advantages of politicians, Prabowo also ordered the military and the police to take stronger measures against rioters, looters and incendiaries after houses of members of the political party and state buildings were ransacked and burned.

The demonstrators set fire to the buildings of the regional legislative council in several Indonesian provinces.

In the city of Makassar, a local building in Parliament was burnt down, killing at least three people and injuring several others after people were trapped inside the fire building.

Meanwhile, in Jakarta, angry crowds made a descent and looted the luxury articles of the houses of several members of the regional legislative assembly, which previously made antipathic comments on the demonstrators who had criticized their high salaries.

The disorders prompted Prabowo to cancel a visit to China, promising to directly monitor the situation and find a solution.

Tiktok has also suspended its live streaming functionality in Indonesia “for the next few days”, with the aim of limiting potentially inflammatory content regarding concerns about live mass mobilization.

Herianto says that the authorities’ treatment of the situation overall has been “mixed”.

“On the one hand, there have been some attempts to maintain dialogue, but on the other hand, the use of excessive force has raised concerns,” he said. “Authorities should protect the right to peaceful demonstrations, not suppress it.”

Prabowo’s instruction to the authorities to intensify repressions – including the extinguishing of the lights in protest zones and the use of rubber bullets – has more attributed the concerns of Herianto, which makes fear of police brutality.

“History has shown us that when the State favors security measures in relation to dialogue, the risk of excessive force and human rights violations increases,” he said.

“We hope that the authorities act with restraint and prioritize de -escalation rather than confrontation.”

We do not know where the demonstrations will go from here – if they will continue to transform themselves into additional violence and repression or force the government to yield more ground.

But whatever the result, the situation has been the most serious challenge in Prabowo since it became president in 2024.

“It’s a major test,” said Dr. Warburton. “Can he appease the demonstrators and put an end to rolling demonstrations, without resorting to violence or excessive state repression? This is the question.”

A former special forces commander accused of serious human rights violations, Prabowo reinvented himself through “cute” Tiktok videos to win younger voters.

But many Indonesians remember him like the son -in -law of the military dictator Suharto, who quickly crossed the ranks of an authoritarian regime.

His victory in last year’s elections was welcomed with a certain concern, and he faced the anger of the demonstrators of the students concerning the budget cuts of health and education in February of this year.

Prabowo certainly knows the power of students’ demonstrations – they played a decisive role in bringing the Suharto regime to fall. So how he reacts will be critical.

On Monday, saw a brief lull, while some Indonesian students and civil society groups canceled protests in Jakarta, citing “impossible conditions” after the authorities increased security measures in the capital.

Police had set up checkpoints across the city, while the police and the military had carried out patrols across the city and deployed elite shooters in key places.

Some experts warn that recent climbing could be the tip of the iceberg, as many fundamental economic problems remain unresolved.

It is the depth and extent of these problems that have given the current rallies of antigolanders, and distinguish them from the many others that Indonesians have launched in recent years – which makes them, in the opinions of Mr. Hadiz, “among the most important epidemic of protests since the advent of Reformasi”.

It is a reference to the reforms that followed the fall of Suharto in 1998, inaugurating an era of democracy and stability.

Dr. Warburton also agrees that the importance of these events is “very different from what we have seen in the past two decades”.

“There have been waves of popular demonstrations in recent years, often led by students and progressive activists,” she said.

“The current manifestations are different – the grievances are deeper and are probably more widely felt.

Even if Prabowo meets the requirements that have stimulated demonstrations – wrapping parliamentary advantages and by launching an investigation into the incident which caused the death of Affan – the protest organizers hope to seize the momentum for a wider systemic overhaul.

“It seems important,” said Herianto. “Social movements are often emerging in response to accumulated grievances, and moments like this can become turns.

“That this leads to a significant change depends on the will of the leaders to listen and act in the interest of the people, rather than simply defending political or elite interests.”

Additional reports by the BBC Indonesia