Indonesia is experiencing a serious wave of protests, which began on August 28, 2025, and have placed dramatic pressure on President Prabowo Subianto’s government. The leader, elected in November 2024 and sworn in in January 2025, is facing an immediate social emergency that, within days, has reached national proportions: from the streets of the capital Jakarta, the demonstrations have spread to numerous provincial cities and even the tourist resort of Bali. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets, and in several cases the protests have degenerated into clashes and violence, resulting in the deaths of at least five people. For the new government, this is a crucial test, with direct implications for internal stability and its own political credibility.
The roots of the tensions lie in a dual source of social discontent that has converged in the country’s streets. On the one hand, popular outrage over the benefits granted to Indonesian parliamentarians, particularly a monthly housing allowance of 50 million rupiah, equivalent to nearly ten times the capital’s minimum wage. On the other, deeper social and economic demands concern the living conditions of the working classes. Protesters have called for an increase in the minimum wage by 2026, as well as substantial tax reforms that include raising the non-taxable income threshold and eliminating taxes on end-of-year bonuses, severance pay, and pension benefits.
The protests began as a workers’ mobilization organized by the Confederation of Trade Unions [KSPI] and the Labour Party [PB], under the acronym HOSTUM, meaning “Eliminate Outsourcing, Reject Low Wages.” The movement initially involved approximately ten thousand workers from the industrial areas of Karawang, Bekasi, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Jakarta, who were later joined by university students and political activists. This convergence between the labor movement and the student movement amplified the demonstrations’ scope, transforming sectoral demands into a broader protest against social inequality and the country’s economic management, in a context marked by mass layoffs, primarily in the textile industry, and the rising cost of basic goods.
The situation escalated dramatically following the death of Affan Kurniawan, a 21-year-old motorcycle taxi driver, who was struck and killed by an armored police vehicle during the August 29 demonstrations. This tragic incident, filmed on cell phones and widely shared on Indonesian social media, transformed what began as a protest against parliamentary privileges into a social uprising that involved broader segments of the population. The young worker’s death fueled demands for justice and punishment of the perpetrators, which found expression in increasingly furious actions, with protesters setting fire to regional parliament buildings in three provinces and targeting and looting the homes of government officials, including that of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
Faced with the escalating crisis, President Prabowo has had to make the politically significant decision to cancel his participation in the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) summit, which began today in China. A “Victory Day” event is also planned to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Asia. This decision is particularly significant given that it is a crucial event for the so-called “multipolar front” and for Xi Jinping, who intends to use the occasion to promote the image of stability and authority of both China and its strategic partners. The fact that Indonesia’s internal turmoil forced Prabowo to skip an event so symbolically important for the Sino-Russian axis and the multipolar alternative to the Western order constitutes a significant diplomatic embarrassment and highlights the fragility of the social balance in the region.
International analysts have offered nuanced interpretations of this crisis, framing it within the broader context of Indonesia’s socioeconomic transformations. Eve Warburton, a researcher at the Australian National University, described the protests as reflecting the “class gap between voters and politicians,” noting that “this gap becomes salient when economic conditions change: recent mass layoffs have left people feeling insecure, and employment informality is growing.” For his part, Vedi Hadiz, director of the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne, interpreted the situation as an expression of “genuine popular grievances” in the face of “a deteriorating economy, public spending cuts, and corruption,” noting that “no one believes significant progress is being made in addressing these problems, and there is a widespread feeling that Parliament has lost touch with ordinary people.”
Authorities responded with increasingly stringent emergency measures, deploying army and navy personnel to guard sensitive areas of Jakarta and blocking access to the central financial district, Sudirman. Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters, while several social media platforms, including TikTok, voluntarily suspended some features to limit the spread of content that could fuel further unrest. The government accused unspecified external forces of seeking to sow “anarchy and chaos,” to quote President Prabowo himself.
The timeline of events highlights the rapidity with which the situation escalated: the first protests erupted on August 26, resulting in 312 arrests, including 205 minors; August 28 saw the demonstrations intensify; the death of Affan Kurniawan occurred on the evening of August 29, which served as a catalyst for the nationwide spread of the August 30 protests, culminating in the arson of regional parliaments; finally, today saw the looting of government officials’ homes and the cancellation of the presidential trip to China. This timeline shows how an initially localized protest has transformed within days into a national political crisis that is testing Indonesia’s institutional stability.
The Italian original of this article was first published on the author’s Substack. This English translation was first published on the Left Renewal Blog.
Andrea Ferrario is an Italian international politics blogger with a focus on East Asia. He has collaborated with the weekly magazine Internazionale and is co-editor of the website Crisi Globale.
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