Mass Protests in Indonesia: Resistance against Authoritarian Tendencies

What is happening right now is the latest in a series of nationwide social movements dating back to 2019, including the #ReformasiDikorupsi protests of that year, the Anti-Omnibus Law protests of 2020, the “Emergency Warning” (Peringatan Darurat) protests of 2024, and the “Dark Indonesia” (Indonesia Gelap) movement that began earlier this calendar year. These initiatives have drawn in a range of actors including labor unions, NGOs, and student groups, making a wide array of demands related to matters such as workers’ rights and protection, corruption, environmental degradation, indigenous people’s issues, and safeguarding democratic processes. Broadly, the key factors driving participation in these movements have been: 

• People are frustrated over economic inequality and the cost of living.  

• They are angry about a lack of governmental transparency and accountability in pushing through legislative bills. 

• They sense that the ruling elite are corrupt and out of touch with ordinary people. 

• They are alarmed by the military’s growing involvement in politics. 

• People feel like not much has changed in terms of the country’s power structures since the 1998 Reformasi, which ended decades of military dictatorship. 

These movements can be understood, then, as an ongoing effort to protect and improve the country’s democratic trajectory.  Protesters’ anger initially focused on the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR), following an announcement that its members would each receive a monthly housing allowance of IDR 50 million (about EUR 2,600). Online activists have emphasised that their opposition is to not just the DPR but also how power structures incorporate other branches of government as well as the police and military. After a police vehicle struck and killed Affan Kurniawan, an ojol (motorcycle taxi) driver, on 28 August, fiery protests spread across the country. A video of the incident went viral, with some linking it to a famous image from the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.  Protesters and activists have faced repression in the form of beatings, the use of tear gas, being discredited as “anarchists,” disruptions to Internet access and information flows (including restrictions of content on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X (Twitter)), information operations, as well as doxxing. As with other recent social movements, young activists and social media users have found creative ways to mobilise people and spread messages and updates despite such restrictions, including via informative post templates, memes, and striking visuals. In addition to the video mentioned above, one of a woman in a pink hijab confronting police has gone viral, inspiring spin-off visuals and posts. Pink, green and blue have become colours of the movement, with some using the hashtag #ResetIndonesia. 

What happens next is uncertain. President Prabowo Subianto has announced that the perks being offered to DPR members will be cancelled, but this has not quelled protesters’ anger. As of 1 September, the police in Jakarta have stated that the situation is calm, with checkpoints and patrols throughout the city. Student groups also announced a delay to further protests. They are wary of escalation, amid allegations of deliberate efforts to incite violence on the part of intelligence officers – which could be used as a pretext to declare a military emergency. Some have also expressed alarm over the possibility of specific demographics – such as Chinese Indonesians, women, queer individuals, and Papuans – being targeted in a heightened cycle of violence.  

Nevertheless, protests in some other cities, such as Yogyakarta, are ongoing, with new lists of demands circulating on social media. These include broader systemic changes to ensure justice and citizen welfare, fairer economic policies, protection of different communities’ rights, and the restriction of military involvement in civilian spaces. They are in line with the broader goals of improving accountability and striving for genuine democracy.  

Moreover, Indonesia’s protesters have received support from elsewhere in the region, including from activists and netizens based in Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and beyond. Some have expressed their admiration for and solidarity with Indonesians on social media, others have supported them in ways including a campaign to support delivery drivers by ordering meals for them via delivery apps. Indonesians have, in turn, thanked their supporters on X (Twitter). It cannot be ruled out that these events will inspire movements elsewhere in the region, just as past uprisings in Hong Kong in 2019 and Thailand in 2020 spurred similar happenings in other countries across Asia.