Worker Martyred and Parliament Set Ablaze: Indonesia on the Brink of Unabated Protests

The Class Background of the Explosion: MPs’ Allowances Shake Indonesia

Indonesia is witnessing a wave of fierce protests led by student and labour forces, in reaction to reports revealing that members of parliament granted themselves massive housing allowances of up to 50 million rupiah per month (equivalent to 4,600 Australian dollars), an amount equal to ten times the minimum wage in the capital, Jakarta.

Repression Opens the Gates of Hell: Worker Martyred Under Police Tank

The confrontations escalated when police forces used excessive force to suppress peaceful protesters in front of the parliament, leading to the martyrdom of worker Afan Kurniawan (21 years old) after he was run over by a police armoured vehicle on August 28. This incident was merely the spark that ignited accumulated anger against the system of repression and corruption.

The Angry Street: From Economic to Radical Demands

The protests transformed from their initial demands concerning wage increases and tax reductions to more radical demands including putting the repressive forces responsible for the worker’s death on trial, dissolving the corrupt parliament, and holding everyone who committed violations against the protesters accountable. The demonstrations extended to several major cities like Surabaya, Bandung, and Makassar, where protesters burned police centres and stormed government compounds.

Roots of the Crisis: Unemployment, Poverty, and Unjust Taxes

These protests are inseparable from the broader context of the structural crisis Indonesia is living under the rule of the dependent capitalist system, where youth unemployment reaches 16%, and 56% of the workforce is employed in the informal sector without any social protection or job security. The government further exacerbated the situation by raising the value-added tax to 12% at the end of last year, at a time when the pace of worker layoffs increased by 32% in the first half of 2025 compared to the previous year.

Unrelenting Repression: Mass Arrests and Excessive Brutality

The authorities confronted the protests with unprecedented violence, using water cannons and tear gas, and arrested hundreds of protesters in the capital and its suburbs. However, the repression failed to extinguish the flame of popular anger, especially after the funeral of the martyred worker turned into a mass march attended by thousands of drivers and citizens.

The Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) said in a statement that it had received 23 reports of missing persons as of Monday. It added, “After search and verification processes, 20 people are still missing.” The group stated that the twenty people were reported missing in the cities of Bandung and Depok on Java island, and in the administrative cities of Central Jakarta, East Jakarta, and North Jakarta, which together form the greater capital. It clarified that one of the incidents was recorded in an “unknown location.”

The national police have not yet responded to a request for comment from AFP. Police announced that 1,240 people had been detained in Jakarta since August 25, according to the official Antara news agency.

The System Attempts to Absorb Anger: Apologies and False Promises

Under street pressure, the President and the Jakarta police chief tried to calm the situation by issuing statements of condolence and an official apology, and announcing an investigation into the incident of the worker’s death. However, these steps remain mere manoeuvres aimed at absorbing popular anger without a genuine address of the crisis’s roots.

The Movement Expands: Student and Worker Solidarity Threatens the System

The protests continued despite the repression, with students demonstrating from August 25 to 27, and were joined on the 28th of the same month by trade unionists from the Labour Party, significantly increasing the number of protesters and demonstrating an ability to organize and coordinate among various segments of the oppressed people.

Thousands also demonstrated in Palembang on Sumatra island, where hundreds gathered separately in Banjarmasin on Borneo island, Yogyakarta on Java island, and Makassar on Sulawesi island. In the city of Gorontalo on Sulawesi island, protesters clashed with police who responded by firing tear gas and using water cannons. A spokesperson for the Gorontalo police told reporters on Tuesday that police had detained 11 people for questioning regarding the demonstrations.

Conclusion: The System is Incapable of Resolving the Crisis… and the Masses Continue the Struggle

It is clear that the ruling system in Indonesia, like all dependent capitalist systems, is incapable of addressing the structural causes of popular anger represented by stark class inequality, unemployment, and the brutal exploitation of the working class. Repression will not stop the march of the masses, and the ongoing protest movement proves that the path to change passes through collective struggle against the greed of the ruling class and its repressive machinery.