Indonesia faces nationwide protests by students and workers amid economic hardship and political frustration.

Jakarta

Indonesians are expressing growing frustration over lawmakers’ increased benefits while the country faces economic challenges and a weakening job market. Many citizens, including workers and students, have taken to the streets, angered by what they perceive as indifference and arrogance from political leaders.

The recent hike in benefits for members of the House of Representatives—reportedly up to ten times the minimum wage—has drawn particular ire, especially as many Indonesians work in informal sectors earning far less than the minimum wage. Public anger has also been fueled by a recent incident involving police brutality, further highlighting concerns about accountability and governance.

Indonesians angry over lawmakers’ perks amid economic hardship

Well, I'm joined now live by Abigail Limuria, the co-founder of WhatsApp Indonesia, a digital media platform that unpacks Indonesian politics. And she's joining us live from Jakarta. Abigail, we've seen these protests from workers, from students. We also saw those huge protests earlier this month in Parti in Central Java. Is there a sense that there's growing frustration in Indonesia at the economic situation beyond the benefits that these politicians were receiving? Yeah, absolutely. I think this what happened has been a culmination of months of not only economic but also political frustration all over the country. As you said before, we are in the middle of a worsening economy, collapsing job market, where thousands have been laid off. And instead of compassion, these people are continuously met with indifference and even sometimes tone deaf and insulting responses. And so I think beyond economic hardship, what really angers the people are the arrogancy they are seeing from their leaders. So for example, the finance minister openly questioned whether raising salaries for honorary teacher who earns well below minimum wage should be a burden that the state budget should bear. Meanwhile, House of Representative members collect thousands of dollars in benefits every month. We've seen representatives call protestors literally idiots for protesting. And one member when confronted with a TV news anchor with the gap between the benefit they're taking with the minimum wage salary that the people earn, they literally said, do not compare us to commoners. And on top of this, I don't know why, but a lot of the House of Representative members are making dancing videos, somewhat like mocking the people while all of this is happening. And so like what we're seeing in party, I think a lot of the people said that it doesn't matter that the region have pulled back the tax hike attempt. What angers them is the arrogancy that they continuously receive and see again and again. And Abigail, if we put some of that into context for our audience, looking specifically at the housing benefit for politicians, that amount is 10 times the minimum wage. And the important thing for our audience to know is that many Indonesians are informal workers. They're not even on the minimum wage. So certainly a sense of a widening gap causing frustration. Yes. So to give you a better picture. So the recent benefit hike that the House of Representatives are getting is around six thousand US dollars or even more in total. That is included in like housing benefit and other stuff. So they can take home around six thousand or even more USD per month. Meanwhile, average Indonesians minimum wage is three hundred forty dollars. And like you said, most Indonesians are way below that because most of them are informal workers and because formal work is very hard to come by recently. And all of this is happening while the government also claims to be doing efficiency. So they are cutting a lot of budgets from a lot of programs because they say they need to do efficiency for the state budget. But meanwhile, they are hiking the House of Representatives benefit to that crazy amount. And so it's it's no wonder that the people are angry at this. And Abigail, earlier we heard from the police chief who apologized over the death of a motorbike taxi driver who was killed when a police vehicle hit him. Of course, that has also sparked anger about police brutality in Indonesia. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, police brutality in Indonesia, unfortunately, is not something new. So there has been protests in Indonesia and whether it be peaceful protests or whatnot, it has been met continuously with police brutality and excessive violence. And unfortunately, from what I've seen, there has been little to no accountability that's been done. So this type of brutality has been culminating for months or even years. But the recent murder that we see where a police vehicle literally ran over a right hailing driver, I think this took the violence and the police brutality to a new height. Thank you, Abigail. That's Abigail Limuria from WhatsApp Indonesia.

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