Indonesian students stage protest as Prabowo marks a year in office
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A demonstrator setting a poster of Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto on fire during a protest in Bandung on Sept 1.
PHOTO: AFP
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JAKARTA – Indonesian students protested in Jakarta on Oct 20 as President Prabowo Subianto completed a year in office, two months after violent demonstrations nationwide
About 300 students clad in yellow and blue jackets gathered near the presidential palace while Mr Prabowo’s Cabinet met – far fewer than the numbers in August’s student-led protests against government policies and lawmaker perks that spread countrywide.
“Free meals programme equals poison,” read a banner carried by students demanding an end to Mr Prabowo’s flagship school meals campaign for millions of students and pregnant women, which gave thousands of students food poisoning
“There are still problems that have not been tackled, although the process has started,” said Ms Maulana Sai, a 25-year-old student of Jayabaya University, who called for reforms to government policies, including the meals programme.
The August protests snowballed after a police vehicle hit and killed a delivery driver
University students leading a cow wearing a mask of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s face during a protest at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta on Sept 24.
PHOTO: AFP
A coalition of student groups popularly called BEM SI published a poster of Oct 20’s protest on Instagram, accompanied by hashtags #1YearIsEnough and #1YearOfContinuousProblems.
Professor Wasisto Raharjo Jati, a politics researcher at Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency, said Mr Prabowo’s first year was marred by a lack of public participation in his policies.
“Generally, Prabowo’s government experienced some turbulence in the first year, especially with regards to a lack of openness and participation,” he said, citing the meals programme.
In a wide-ranging speech to his Cabinet, Mr Prabowo defended the free meals programme on Oct 20, while pledging better education and medical care.
To fund his programmes, which also include free health check-ups and schools for poorer Indonesians, Mr Prabowo has cut government spending or diverted money from other areas, including education.
A former special forces commander, Mr Prabowo has expanded the role of the military, including soldiers working on the meals programme and agriculture projects.
He has promised to lift economic growth to 8 per cent during his five-year term, which runs until 2029, and has launched multiple stimulus packages to spark activity. REUTERS
