Indonesia rocked by protests
INTERNATIONAL -ASIA
10 SEPTEMBER 2025
- What started as a peaceful protest against Parliament members of Indonesia on August 25 in Jakarta, quickly snowballed into violent riots between civilians and the police/military when, on August 28, footage emerged of an armoured vehicle of the paramilitary police running over and killing a 21-year-old delivery worker, Affan Kurniawan.
- Since then, thousands have been arrested and at least seven have died in one of the most violent protests Indonesia has seen recently.
- The initial protests, which were mainly composed of students and labour unions, were conducted outside the Indonesian Parliament, against the housing allowance accorded to legislative members which is almost 50 million rupiah ($3,000) — 10 times the national average monthly minimum wage.
- However, after 21-year-old Affan Kurniawan, a delivery worker, was run over and killed by a police vehicle, protests escalated and spilled out of the capital across the country against the ‘corrupt elite’ and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s government.
- The delivery driver’s killing became the flame which ignited the long-repressed anger of the people at the various austerity measures of the President in the past year.
- Protestors attacked public buildings, burned down and looted houses of public officials, including the house of then Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, and violent clashes were reported between protestors and the police.
