Description: Student – led anti – government protests have continued to escalate as security forces attempted to break larger groups of protesters by firing rubber bullets and launching tear gas grenades on several locations across Indonesia. The major protests were organized in the city of Bandung where students claimed police forces have entered the premises of the Islamic University of Bandung, and the nearby Pasundan University. Hendra Rocmawan, local police official, has stated that riot police forces were breaking up larger groups of non – student protesters outside the premises of the universities. The protests erupted on 25 Aug where student – led demonstrations protested against housing allowances for government employees that exceeded the minimum wage in the country by at least 10 times. President Prabowo Subianto met with representatives from the Indonesian Union of Workers as they outlined their demands for ceasing the demonstrations. The demands from the protesters have expanded towards tackling economic inequality, taxes, police brutality and high cost of living expenses. The death toll from the violence has so far risen to 10 people, while more than a thousand have been arrested.
Impact: The civil upheaval in Indonesia shows no signs of de-escalation despite some of the demonstrating groups calling off nationwide gatherings. The police forces have reported that unidentified groups have been broken up across university campuses in Bandung which indicates a flexible and undetermined structure of the civil movement. President Subianto’s approach so far has been ineffective as he attempts to balance between suppressing the violence and accommodating demands from the various groups of demonstrators. The structure of the movement is yet to be identified as protests have sporadically erupted in several major cities across Indonesia which signals no coordination between the nationwide anti – government groups. Subianto’s government is facing a major challenge as rapid escalation of the protests is threatening to destabilize the country and inflict major political blows to the ruling government. Indonesia’s political establishment would be forced towards introducing systemic domestic policies which could change the country’s consistent issues with economic inequality.