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Student demonstrations, history and the Death Economy
Student demonstrations in the past and present often face the risk of being engineered by other bigger, political forces, or being infiltrated.
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Students march during a protest against the high prices of supplies, postponement of presidential elections and an extension of the President's term in Jakarta on April 11. (AFP/Adek Berry)
W
hen students start hitting the streets to demonstrate, the government should start going "uh-oh". It is a sure sign that things are not going well.
According to Andre Arditya, “Throughout history, youth movements hold a generational consciousness of a better Indonesia”, which is also the title of the column he wrote (The Jakarta Post, Aug. 13, 2020). He noted, the most important student demonstrations occurred in 1908, 1928, 1945, 1966, 1974, 1978 and 1998.
And perhaps in 2022, April 11, in major cities across the country. Organized mainly by the All-Indonesia Students Executive Alliance (BEM-SI), these demonstrations were triggered by the possible delay of the 2024 elections and calls for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to have a third term (see “Parties row back on poll delay proposal”, The Jakarta Post, April 12).
Wow, shades of our first president Sukarno’s being proclaimed “president for life” in 1963, and also Gen. (ret.) Soeharto, Indonesia’s second president. The latter was never declared “president for life”, but effectively he was, being “reelected” every five years, ruling over Indonesia for 32 years.
No wonder the students had the heebie-jeebies about delaying the 2024 elections, which smacks of the nation’s authoritarian past and could derail whatever vestiges of democracy we have left, badly eroded as it has been in Jokowi’s second term (2019-2024).
Other BEM-SI demands were to lower the prices of basic commodities, including fuel and cooking oil; to reshuffle the Cabinet as they considered some of the ministers unprofessional and unable to face the economic crimes of the predatory oligarchy; and last but not least, to not amend the Constitution, which would have had to be done if Jokowi has a third term.
Student demonstrations in the past and present often face the risk of being engineered by other bigger, political forces, or of being infiltrated. Monday’s demonstrations seems to have been the latter. After they met with three House speakers at the House complex who agreed to the student’s demands, most of the students disbanded. But then some started hurling stones at the complex, which prompted the police to use tear gas and water cannons.
