Growing discontent with policymaking keeps Indonesian students on streets

JAKARTA – From fuel price hikes to multibillion-dollar government programmes, a growing list of grievances has fueled recurring protests during Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s first year-and-a-half in office, highlighting widening public dissatisfaction with the administration’s policy direction.

Over the past week, a fresh wave of student-led demonstrations have swept Jakarta and several other cities across Indonesia as public frustration over rising living costs, a weakening rupiah and broader economic pressures intensified following the government’s decision to raise non-subsidised fuel prices by more than 30 per cent last week.

Thousands of students from universities across Greater Jakarta rallied on June 12 at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, one of the capital’s most prominent landmarks, in a protest dubbed #MenujuIndonesiaBangkrut, or Heading to Bankrupt Indonesia.

Protesters accused the government of neglecting the economic struggles of ordinary Indonesians while continuing to fund costly flagship programmes.

Among their demands were cuts to what they described as “wasteful state spending”, lower fuel and staple food prices, measures to stabilise the rupiah and a halt to major government initiatives, including Prabowo’s flagship free nutritious meal programme, which has been allocated 268 trillion rupiah (S$19.3 billion) in 2026.

The protests continued until June 15 and spread to other cities, including Semarang in Central Java, Surabaya in East Java, Medan in North Sumatra, Lampung province and Bandung in West Java, where clashes between demonstrators and the police were reported.

Tensions also surfaced on June 15 during a public discussion at Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, which featured Deputy Agriculture Minister Sudaryono of Prabowo’s Gerindra Party, after a group of students disrupted the event and demanded it be halted.

Sudaryono later claimed he was struck during the commotion before being escorted from the venue by security personnel.

Political analyst Lili Romli of the National Research and Innovation Agency said the latest protests reflected concerns that extend far beyond fuel prices, pointing instead to deeper frustrations over policymaking and the government’s handling of criticism.

“These repeated demonstrations by students and civil society groups may reflect growing disappointment with government policies, which many view as failing to adequately reflect the aspirations and concerns of the public,” Lili told The Jakarta Post on June 16.

He said that the House of Representatives, which is now dominated by pro-government parties, has also failed to exercise its oversight role, leaving many citizens politically unrepresented.

“Rather than channeling and fighting for public aspirations, some lawmakers have instead acted as government defenders, almost serving as the government’s spokesperson,” he said, adding that this has encouraged people to “seek extra-parliamentary avenues through mass mobilisation and street protests”.

The latest demonstrations are part of a broader pattern of unrest since Prabowo took office in October 2024.

Previous protests included rallies against a planned value-added tax increase in late 2024 and the Indonesia Gelap (Dark Indonesia) movement in early 2025, which opposed budget cuts, including in education, to help finance the President’s flagship programmes.

The current wave also comes less than a year after the August 2025 protests, when the killing of an online motorcycle taxi driver during the protest sparked nationwide outrage and transformed what began as protests over lawmakers’ lavish allowances into one of the nation’s largest episodes of civil unrest in decades.

Political analyst Aditya Perdana of the University of Indonesia warned that such recurring street protests should be viewed as a “serious political warning” by Prabowo’s administration, noting that public dissatisfaction is being fuelled by unresolved economic problems and concerns over government management.

“If warnings like these continue to be ignored, there is a risk that public pressure will intensify and dissatisfaction will become more deeply entrenched,” he said. “The government needs to respond constructively by listening to criticism and addressing the issues being raised rather than dismissing them.”

Prabowo has yet to comment on the protest.

Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, however, met 15 student protesters at the Vice-Presidential Palace on the evening of June 15 and thanked them for their input.

Responding to the public criticism, Muhammad Qodari, head of the Government’s Communications Agency, described Prabowo as a “leader of a second wave of reform”, arguing that the President was now pushing through major economic reforms aimed at dismantling systems that had long benefited a narrow elite.

Qodari also reiterated the government’s commitment to continue the widely criticised free nutritious meal programme.

“Challenges and problems are inevitable, but they are not a reason to stop. They are a reason to evaluate and improve,” he said. THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK