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View all search resultsWhen the state rolls back reform promises, from Sabang to Merauke
From raging wildfires to simmering revolts in the regions, a hyper-centralized Jakarta is driving the country toward a dangerous breaking point that harks back to past policy failures.
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A group of ‘ojol’ (online motorcycle transportation drivers) distributes boxes of supplies donated by the public at a drop-off point outside the Senalayan Legislative Complex in Central Jakarta on Aug. 25, 2026, ahead of a planned protest on Aug. 27. (JP/Iqro Rinaldi)
F
rom bungled emergency operations during a magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara to raging forest fires across Kalimantan, Sumatra and East Java’s Mount Bromo, the country faces a cascade of overlapping crises. Paired with escalating discontent in Aceh, mounting friction in Papua and grassroots protests in Jakarta by residents of Pati, Central Java, these events point to a deeper structural rot in state governance.
These flash points arrived in rapid succession.
On Aug. 11, an enraged crowd burned and vandalized at least 13 buildings in the Puncak regency administrative complex in Ilaga, Central Papua. The unrest erupted after central fiscal tightening under Finance Minister Regulation No. 7/2026, which slashed the 2026 Village Fund allocation from Rp 300-400 million (US$170,000-$22,800) to Rp 100-130 million per village, provoking outrage among hundreds of residents and village heads.
Yet budgetary cuts are only part of Papua’s distress. An El Nino-driven social and environmental crisis has dried up Lake Paniai, halted the free nutritious meal program in Asmat due to acute water shortages and incinerated vast stretches of forest in Merauke and Mappi.
While the South Papua Environment, Forestry and Land Office logged 25,838 hectares burned between January and July, nonprofit research institute Madani Berkelanjutan estimated the damage at nearly 41,800 ha. To make matters worse, unseasonal frost and hail have triggered widespread crop failures across the highland regencies of Puncak and Lanny Jaya.
For generations, indigenous Papuans have managed climate volatility through customary stewardship. Today, that resilience is being eroded by top-down National Strategic Projects (PSN). Pushed to the brink, the Papua Law Enforcement and Human Rights Coalition has legally challenged the Merauke regent’s environmental suitability decree for PSN access roads, demanding dedicated, mandated emergency disaster response teams across Papua.
The fires, however, reach far beyond the eastern frontier. The blazes in Kalimantan consumed 57,081 ha in the first half of 2026, pushing the midyear national tally past 107,000 ha. Meanwhile, Sumatra lost over 28,000 ha across Riau, the Riau Islands, Lampung (including Way Kambas National Park), West Sumatra, South Sumatra and Jambi.
