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View all search resultsProtest works
In the 20 months that he has been in power, the President has not only had to deal with street protests early in his administration, he has also had to face relentless demonstrations that ebbed and flowed depending on how well the public responded to his policies.
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This aerial picture shows students protesting to demand a reduction in fuel prices and the dissolution of the free nutritious meal program, which they consider to be a hotbed of corruption, in Jakarta on June 12, 2026. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
F
or a leader who has a high job approval rating, hovering around 70 percent according to latest public opinion polls, President Prabowo Subianto certainly has a somewhat problematic relationship with his critics.
In the 20 months that he has been in power, the President has not only had to deal with street protests early in his administration, he has also had to face relentless demonstrations that ebbed and flowed depending on how well the public responded to his policies.
The first large-scale protest took place in February last year under the banner of the "Dark Indonesia" movement to speak out against a sweeping budget cut to make savings of Rp 306.7 trillion ($18.8 billion) to be shifted to Prabowo's $4.3 billion free nutritious meal program and the new state asset fund Danantara.
The government should have had every reason to worry that those protests, led by university students, could create political instability, as protests in other countries, mostly over the rising cost of living, unemployment and corruption ended up in the ousting of incumbent governments.
But the Prabowo administration appeared to shrug off the nationwide movement, with the President himself saying that the demonstrations in February were "financed by corrupt individuals" and were designed to keep Indonesia "poor and noisy".
The February protests did fizzle out with none of the major demands of the protesters, ranging from police reform to a major overhaul of the free meals program, being considered by the government.
It turned out that the February protests were only a dress rehearsal for bigger and wider scale protests that would take place six months later in August.
