In January Prabowo Subianti, President of The Republic of Indonesia, gave a keynote address to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The former general vowed to eradicate extreme poverty in the next four years, declaring grandiosely “this is my life’s mission.” But the reality for most Indonesians does not match the much-vaunted spin.
Today, life remains tough for the majority. The economy is growing at five percent, but this has failed to translate into secure employment. Most foreign capital flowing into the country goes to the mining sector and creates few jobs. Additionally, about 20,000 workers are laid off every month. Youth unemployment remains stubbornly high — 16 percent of young people aged 15 to 24 are unemployed. A massive 60 percent of all jobs — nearly 90 million workers — are in precarious jobs in the informal or gig economy. Young people, including many with tertiary education, are condemned to insecure work.
There’s also a yawning chasm between the élites and the majority. Indonesia is now ranked sixth in the world in terms of income disparity and the gap continues to widen faster than any other South East Asian country. According to Oxfam, the four richest men in Indonesia have more wealth than the poorest 100 million. Climate change — which disproportionally hits the poorest — only worsens the situation.
Is it any wonder that Indonesia is increasingly volatile? Deep anger has long been simmering, and in 2025 it exploded. Angry protests in August were the largest since the uprising that toppled the authoritarian Suharto dictatorship in 1998.
Plenty to protest. After ruling the country for 32 years with an iron grip, it was a combination of people power and widespread anger about deep inequality, worsened by the fallout from the Asian Economic Crisis, that finally led to the downfall of Suharto. With layoffs weakening the economy and inflation soaring, Suharto took a loan from the IMF in exchange for an austerity drive, which shifted the burden of the crisis onto the masses, triggering a revolt.
Although Suharto was ousted, capitalism, based on the deep inequality, remained firmly intact. The New Order regime was replaced by a democracy dominated by Indonesian oligarchy. There are many political parties giving an appearance of electoral choice. But the reality is that there is no real contest of ideas, merely factions protecting their own interests.
With the crushing weight of the dictatorship lifted, protests have become part of the political landscape. From campaigns to end violence against women to protests against toxic mining ventures and demands for West Papuan self-determination, Indonesian people are taking to the streets. Huge student protests against corruption exploded in 2019.
There was also mass opposition to the post-colonial Criminal Code, which eroded civil liberties and criminalised sex outside of marriage. Students and workers rallied in massive numbers in 2022 against a government decision to raise subsidised fuel prices by almost a third.
Led by the rank and file, unions held mass protests against the Omnibus Bill on Job Creation, aimed at making the country more attractive to big capital by stripping away workers’ rights and attacking the environment movement. The bill was rammed through in 2020 during the pandemic. Demands for its repeal featured prominently during International Women’s Day, May Day and other protests.
Resisting the authoritarian drift. The 10-year presidency of Joko Widodo began with many Indonesians hopeful for change. It ended in 2024, with rights seriously eroded as he trampled on democracy, aiming to build a political dynasty. Mass protests challenging his nepotism coalesced around the slogan “Emergency Warning.” Thousands stormed the parliament building. These protests stopped the passage of a law that would have allowed Jokowi’s younger son to run for governor in Central Java.
In October 2024, Prabowo was sworn in as the eighth President of Indonesia. He is is a millionaire businessman and right-wing populist with deep links to the former Suharto regime and a record of human rights violations in Indonesia, West Papua and Timor Leste.
In government, Prabowo has built a permanent coalition of parties in the legislature that operate almost as a single entity. The Advance Indonesia Coalition Plus (KIM+) contains all parties with the exception of Megawati Sukarnoputri’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle. Critics, such as academic Max Lane, characterise this as a “political cartel.”
But he is not getting it all his way. The protests that took off before he was sworn in have continued in waves — each growing larger and stronger. Four months into Prabowo’s presidency, demonstrations were triggered by deep austerity cuts across the public service. Eight percent was slashed from the annual budget and the funds directed from health, education and disaster mitigation into the president’s pet projects. He also allocated U.S.$20 billion to Danantara, a new sovereign wealth fund to drive growth and make state-owned assets more profitable.
Then on 20 March the Parliament unanimously passed the Indonesian National Army Law, which allows active military officers to be appointed to civilian institutions. Prabowo has appointed military officers to many important government positions, fuelling the deep-seated distrust and fear of the military. Militant youth protests raised the demand, “Army Back to the Barracks.”
With the 80th anniversary of independence approaching last August and faced with growing unrest, Prabowo ordered that the nationalist flag-waving festivities start early. This backfired. Truckers began flying pirate flags with a skull and cross bones wearing a straw hat. Soon the flags, a symbol of resistance, were everywhere!
Then in early August, the movement had an important victory in Pati, Central Java. Angered about a regressive 250 percent tax increase, 85,000 people joined an angry protest to demand the scrapping of the tax and the resignation of Regent (Governor) Sudewo. The local legislature repealed the tax and began the impeachment of Sudewo, who was then arrested for corruption offences. Defeating the tax in Pati emboldened activists in other parts of the country.
Standing up for protests rights on International Human Rights Day, December 2025 and calling for the release of all political prisoners. Photo courtesy Perempuan
Mahatdhika Facebook.
The uprising. When news broke that 580 Members of Parliament had been receiving a lavish housing allowance — about $4,700 Australian dollars a month, or nearly ten times the minimum wage on top of their salary — the streets of cities across the archipelago exploded in protests calling for the Parliament to be dissolved.
Three days into the protests, a motorcycle taxi driver was struck and killed when a police vehicle rammed into him during a demonstration in Jakarta. The protests escalated exponentially, with people enraged by state brutality. Public buildings, banks and parliamentarians’ houses were torched.
Women played a key role in the revolt, with hundreds from the Indonesian Women’s Alliance marching on the Parliament, wearing pink. They wielded broomsticks symbolising their desire to “sweep away the dirt of the state, militarism and police repression.” They demanded that Prabowo end state violence, the resignation of the police chief, withdrawal of the military and the police, the release of all arrested during the protests and for authorities to end the criminalisation of peaceful protest. It was a full week of mass rage!
Olin Montiero is part of the protest movement. A feminist activist since the 1990s, she led the Voices of Concerned Mothers movement, a dissident group which emerged in the final months of the Suharto regime. Today she opposes laws that give a more prominent role to the military, arguing that militarisation exacerbates gender-based violence and erodes civic space, particularly in conflict zones like Papua.
Women’s March Jakarta is sharply critical of the inequality. They declared that “the wealthy live in luxury, while we are simply told to be patient.” Adding, “this is the fiscal injustice that fuels the fires in the streets.” They criticise the oligarchy for reaping profits from extractive industries and the government for its focus on ensuring the comfort of the élite.
…then the crackdown. By the start of September, the Prabowo regime was on the front foot, suppressing dissent and deploying the military and the police to restore order. Tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons were used against protestors. Ten were killed and more than a thousand injured. Over 6,700 people were arrested in the vicious crackdown. More than a thousand people have been charged, mostly grassroots activists, some with quite serious crimes.
The year 2025 was not only a year of the largest mass protests this century, it was also a year of the most savage state repression and mass arrests since the 1998 protests. Authoritarianism is on the march.
Crisis of leadership. While anger is running white hot, a clear political program and well-coordinated leadership is missing. Those driving the street actions are a loosely organised group of youth, vocational students and gig economy workers supported by farmers and rank-and-file workers. The leadership of the official trade union movement is playing a treacherous role. Key union leaders, including the head of the Labor Party, Said Iqbal, are linked to Prabowo or other parties in the KIM+ coalition.
Also shaping the climate of dissent is a loose group of online influencers, whose voices are amplified by the mainstream media. While protest was raging in the streets, this group released a series of demands known as “17 + 8” — that is, 17 immediate demands and 8 longer term claims. The 17 + 8 includes basic democratic principles and are broadly focused on reform of the state. Yet calls, such as “reform the police to be professional and humane,” demonstrate no real understanding of the actual role of the state. The demands are also extremely nebulous, such as the call to draft a “fairer” tax reform plan. What is actually needed is to tax big business and introduce a steeply progressive taxation system.
The dominance of hazy democratic appeals that provide no real solutions is hardly surprising. Several generations of Marxists were murdered in the 1960s during Suharto’s brutal rise to power, and it still remains illegal to build an organisation based on Marxism in Indonesia. This destruction of political continuity goes a long way to explaining the lack of clear leadership of the protest movement. As well as resisting the authoritarian drift under Prabowo, a key part of the fight for democratic rights must be to overturn this ban on Marxism. The movement must also raise clear and concrete class-based demands. Rank-and -file unionists need to agitate to break their unions from the oligarchy and organise independently of the ruling class.
In 2025 the aspirations, determination and bravery of the Indonesian masses fighting for a better life were on full display. While the ruling class has re-established its grip on power — for now — the most serious fighters will continue to draw lessons that to win equality and genuine democracy, it will be necessary to get rid of capitalism.
