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View all search resultsThe lost art of listening
From choking haze to viral confrontations, public fury is simmering across the country, and continuing the dismissive official line instead of delivering solutions risks sparking a full-blown crisis of legitimacy.
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Greenpeace Indonesia activists unfurl a pair of giant banners on the Welcome Statue on Oct. 20, 2026, during a demonstration at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta. (Greenpeace Indonesia/-)
I
ndonesia is heating up, literally and figuratively. Outdoor temperatures continue to climb across a number of cities amid a severe dry season due to El Nino. Yet the extreme heat has not deterred hundreds, if not thousands, from taking to the streets to voice their grievances over worsening socioeconomic hardships.
Students from several universities gathered at the Heroes Monument in Menteng, Central Jakarta, to vent their frustration over the rising cost of living and the government’s inadequate response to forest and peatland fires generating toxic haze that have disrupted flights, public health and schooling.
The rally followed a banner drop by Greenpeace Indonesia at the Welcome Statue around 2 kilometers away, demanding decisive climate action. Both protests took place on Oct. 20 as the administration of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka marked its second year.
Even hazardous haze failed to suppress public outrage in the outer regions. In South and Central Kalimantan, students and residents took to the streets, fed up with choking on noxious smoke from uncontrolled blazes across their provinces.
Public discontent, however, has not manifested only in organized rallies.
A recent viral video showed an exhausted gas station attendant in Bali shouting at Governor Wayan Koster after working grueling shifts during a severe island-wide fuel shortage that caused congested queues.
Another widely shared clip showed West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi, a prominent contender in early surveys for the 2029 presidential race, being mobbed by Ciamis residents protesting decades of unaddressed road damage.
