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Analysis: ‘Dark Indonesia’ most serious anti-government protest since Prabowo took charge
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Protesters light candles and flashlights on their cellular phones during a night-time protest near the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta on Feb. 21, 2025. They demanded the government review budget cuts and the large allocation of funds to the free nutritious meal program for schoolchildren. (JP/Muhammad Zaenuddin)
T
he massive student demonstrations that erupted in several cities in Indonesia last week were the most serious anti-government protests since President Prabowo Subianto took charge in October. Clearly, all is not well in spite of his high approval ratings.
Prabowo may be popular in the public eye, but the country’s young political elite see it differently.
The “Indonesia Gelap” (Dark Indonesia) theme used in all of these protests contrasts with the upbeat Indonesia Emas (Golden Indonesia) tagline government officials continue to recite in many speeches. While they attacked specific government policies in their protests, the students’ choice of using a hashtag is a no confidence motion on the national leadership under Prabowo and his immediate predecessor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, from 2014-2024.
Discontent among the youth was also reflected by #KaburAjaDulu (Let’s just flee first) which went viral around the same time in February. The hashtag encourages young people to look overseas for jobs and better lives, essentially giving the same thumbs down to the future of Indonesia.
The student protests went on for three days in Jakarta, Bandung, Lampung, Surabaya, Makassar, Malang, Samarinda, Banjarmasin, Banda Aceh and Denpasar. The protests may have ended for now, but the students have served notice to Prabowo of an undercurrent of discontent among the public about the direction the country is heading.
The #IndonesiaGelap hashtag harkens back to the phrase “Democracy dies in darkness” that the Washington Post used as its tagline in 2016 when Donald Trump was elected the first time around. It reflects concerns that many Indonesians have today with the backsliding of democracy, marked by a shrinking civic space and the rise of authoritarianism, trends that began during the administration of populist president Jokowi. Under Prabowo, there are now even signs of increasing militarism.
The protests were triggered after the government announcement in February of huge spending cuts to raise money to fund the ambitious free nutritious meal program, Prabowo’s signature policy.
