undreds of university students returned to the streets on Friday to challenge President Prabowo Subianto’s spending priorities, arguing that costly flagship programs are weakening efforts to respond to mounting economic pressures.
Dubbed #MenujuIndonesiaBangkrut (Heading to Bankrupt Indonesia), the protest centered on five demands, including calls for the government to curb wasteful spending, lower fuel and staple food prices and halt the President’s multibillion-dollar free nutritious meal and Red and White Cooperatives programs.
On Friday afternoon, students from the University of Indonesia (UI), IPB University and the Jakarta State Polytechnic, and several other campuses marched toward the Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle, only to be blocked several hundred meters from the landmark by lines of police and military personnel.
Some protesters were also intercepted en route and directed to hold their rally at the Senayan Legislative Complex instead, but the protesters refused, saying they no longer trusted lawmakers to represent public interests.
“We no longer have trust in [either the legislative or the executive branch] as they have aligned themselves with one another to make the people suffer,” UI Student Executive Body (BEM UI) chairman Yatalathof Imawan said.
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Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning.
The students also called for an end to the growing militarization of civilian affairs, one of the key demands of the protest. Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Budi Hermanto previously said that 4,151 security personnel, including around 500 members of the Indonesian Military (TNI), had been deployed to secure the demonstration.
