Description: Anti – government protests rapidly escalated over the weekend, when a delivery driver by the name of Affan Kurniawan was run down by a police armored vehicle and succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital. Indonesians started protesting the increased housing allowances to parliamentarians which were 20 times higher than the country’s minimum wage. Over the weekend, protesters stormed several buildings, lit vehicles on fire and caused massive disruptions in public services accessibility which caused schools and businesses to close. Six people were declared to have been killed during the violent clashes between the riot police and the protesters over 5 days, with many of the protesting groups calling demonstrations off due to President Prabowo Subianto’s statements of a more repressive crackdown. Prabowo, while addressing the nation, stated that military and police forces would be deployed on the streets of Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya and Gorontalo as well as everywhere else where public safety is endangered. Prabowo also stated that military forces would assist the police in preventing the damaging of public and private property which has been intensified in the past couple of days. In his final remarks, the Indonesian President stated that government sponsored allowances for parliamentarians would be backtracked as a show of good faith and a message to the protesters that the government would address their demands.
Impact: Intentional or accidental negligence by Indonesia’s police forces has caused the massive public uproar in the country, directed at the government’s unfair public policies and favoritism of people holding power. The scale of violence and longevity of the protest movement indicates that public approval to Subianto’s domestic policies has been exponentially declining as the Indonesian President is barely a year in office. The dimension of the protests has expanded since last week, as pioneering movements such as the All-Indonesian Students Executive Body have shelved additional demands to the government such as combating corruption, economic inequality and police brutality. Prabowo appeared on television accompanied by its political allies as they announced the reversal in parliamentary allowances which signals that domestic political support remains stable, despite the rapid, violent and deadly escalations of the protests. Demonstrations would continue across Indonesia in the short to mid – term period, as the protesters, despite the government’s concessions, are demanding a wide spectrum of reforms which are yet to be tackled. Prabowo is gridlocked in balancing between repressive security measures to tackle the demonstrations and implementing domestic reforms which could compromise his standing and endanger his presidency.