Indonesia - August 2025

 At least ten people have been killed and thousands arrested in nationwide protests that began in Jakarta on 25 August. The protests were initially a response to plans to increase parliamentary living stipends by IDR  100 million (USD 6,150), thirty times greater than the median wage, and became violent after a police vehicle struck and killed a motorcyclist. Protests then spread to other cities around the country and public grievances expanded to include more general economic issues and dissatisfaction with a political class seen as self-dealing. The homes of MPs and government offices were ransacked or set on fire, and police responded to protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets. President Prabowo announced on 31 August the revocation of the increased living stipend and promised the military and police would restore public order. 

Sources: The Diplomat (1), The Diplomat (2), Jakarta Post (1), Jakarta Post (2), Jakarta Post (3)

Indonesian President Prabowo pardoned his political rivals, Thomas Lembong and Hasto Kristiyanto, on 1 August, after both were separately convicted in corruption-related cases. Hasto is the secretary-general of the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Thomas a former trade minister. Anticorruption and legal experts said the pardons are evidence of excessive interference in the judiciary, as neither case had exhausted the appeals process. Anticorruption experts separately criticized the pardons as undermining efforts to enforce anti-graft and corruption laws in the country, and that the timing and nature of the pardons suggest that Prabowo may have pardoned Hasto to win support or political concessions from the PDI-P. The president’s office said the pardons were to promote ‘national interests and public unity.’ 

Sources: Jakarta Post, Reuters, University of Melbourne