September 5, 2025

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Are Anti-Government Protests in Indonesia Gaining Momentum?

AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim

The protests in Indonesia began on August 25, sparked by news that Indonesian legislators would be receiving a generous housing allowance of 50 million rupiah ($ 3,038 USD) — 10 times higher than Indonesia’s minimum wage — on top of their already generous salary and extensive perks. This move evoked the ire of many Indonesians, as emblematic of how the government remains perpetually out of touch with the needs of ordinary citizens. This sort of protest is not new. On the contrary, between 2019 and 2025, a coalition of student councils, labor unions and NGOs has been protesting both online and offline to highlight issues of economic inequality, lack of jobs, government corruption, and creeping authoritarianism, according to Dr. Edward Aspinall. Episodic protests by this coalition had been ongoing since February, with students at the forefront of the round that began on August 25.

When a speeding police armored vehicle hit Affan Kurniawan, a motorcycle rideshare driver crossing the street to deliver a food order, fury amongst the Indonesian street exploded. Video recordings of the incident went viral, showing the driver stopping after he hit Kurniawan momentarily, only to then speed up, crushing the young man under the wheels of the vehicle, with incensed crowds chasing the driver down. Protests spread rapidly across cities and towns throughout the archipelago, including Medan, Bandung, Cirebon, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Solo, Jember, Surabaya, Banjarmasin, Makassar, Manado, Denpasar, and Manokwari. The hashtag #polisipembunuh (Killer police) trended on X.

While the majority of protests were peaceful, some turned violent, as elements within the protests burned down regional parliament buildings and police posts. In Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, rioters looted the homes of four members of the House of Representatives (DPR) who had made snide remarks about the protests, carrying off everything from Luis Vuitton handbags and televisions to pet cats and life-size replicas of Lionel Messi and Iron Man. They also looted the home of Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Indonesia’s respected finance minister, who was overseeing the implementation of austerity policies. The looting was reminiscent of protests in Sri Lanka in the summer of 2022, when demonstrations over government corruption led to the ransacking of government properties and homes of high-ranking officials.

The police responded with tear gas, water cannons, and rubber bullets, and riot police clashed with demonstrators. The National Commission on Human Rights (KOMNAS HAM) has reported that as of September 4, 2025, 10 people have died in the protests. In Jakarta alone, some 469 people were injured and 97 hospitalized in demonstrations during the first week of the protests, according to the Jakarta Health Office. Despite the danger, the protests not only refused to die down, but the protest coalition also expanded. With the death of Affan Kuniawan, thousands of gig workers, including motorcycle rideshare drivers and livery drivers, joined in the demonstrations. The number of student organizations grew to include at least 10 student unions, including those from Indonesia’s top universities, like the University of Indonesia. Unions, human rights organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have also participated, as they had in previous protest iterations. However, one new development is the role of women’s organizations.

On September 3, hundreds of women — members of the Alliance of Indonesian Women — joined the protests in Jakarta, dressed in pink to protest police brutality; whether this marks a trend in women’s organizations' participation is something to watch, as this would be a significant expansion of the coalition. Research by Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stepan notes the importance of peaceful protests for expanding coalitions that can bring about regime change. When protests remain peaceful, they can attract wider segments of society and can encourage crucial elite and military defections. When protests descend into violence, it impedes coalition expansion and elite recruitment. Thus far, elites stand united in opposition to the protestors.

This episode is both the first crisis and the first test of Prabowo Subianto as president. While Prabowo remade himself in his presidential campaign, eschewing his earlier tegas (firm) image for one of a cuddly cartoon grandpa, his roots are among the elite. He is the former son-in-law of Indonesia’s former longtime dictator, Suharto, and former head of Indonesia’s special forces Kopassus branch, which committed gross atrocities during the Suharto era. How he responds to the protestors’ demands will signal to Indonesians where his loyalties lie, whether he is indeed reformed, and exactly what kind of populist he intends to be.

In response to the grievances of the protestors, Prabowo and legislators in the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) have agreed to a freeze on expensive overseas work trips and to revoke some of the perks DPR members receive, including the housing allowance. This is a step in the right direction. However, representatives of the protestors see these as largely cosmetic offerings and far too little to address the underlying core economic problems facing ordinary Indonesians. There is considerable evidence that he is willing to employ tactics of an earlier era in the name of stability. The regime has presided over a sweeping crackdown on protestors. According to Human Rights Watch figures, as of September 3, some 3,000 people have been detained, and many students and activists have gone into hiding. Dr. Elisabeth Kramer, Deputy Director of the Sydney Southeast Asia Center, notes that the administration is also taking steps to silence dissent online. For example, Deputy Communication Minister Angga Raka Prabowo called on social media companies to deplatform those Indonesians making “provocative content.”

Prabowo has used the terms “terrorism” and “treason” to describe the violence. It is unclear, however, who is actually behind the violence. Prabowo has blamed “shadowy forces” without naming any specific group. If the past is prologue, then one cannot rule out that some of the violence may be orchestrated by elements within the elite seeking to delegitimize the protest movement in order to keep their privileges intact. Orchestrated violence was commonplace during the 1998 protests that brought down the Suharto regime. Yet, there is also the possibility that a subset of the protestors is furious at the excesses of the Indonesian elite, and with the killing of Kurniawan, they are taking this moment to make their anger known. There is no evidence of anarchist or accelerationist movements in Indonesia today, and no evidence that extremist groups like pro-ISIS Jemaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD) are exploiting the protests for their own ends.

Dr. Julie Chernov Hwang is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Goucher College, a Senior Research Fellow at the Soufan Center and a Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar.