The country's fifth president said she regretted the protests, which descended into riots in some parts of the capital city on Oct. 8, with several facilities set ablaze by unidentified mobs and clashes occurring between the police and protesters.

She also called on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo – who seems to have embraced the nation's younger generations in his administration as advisors – not to spoil millennials.

"I said to the President, don't spoil them [...] I want to ask a question: What’s the contribution of the millennial generation?" Megawati said in her speech broadcasted on the PDI-P's YouTube channel.

"What is your contribution to this nation and country? I don't care if I get bullied. Are protesting and destroying the only things you [millennials] can do?”

Megawati, a notable figure during the 1998 Reform Era, acknowledged that street protests had been allowed since the pro-democracy reform, but she said they should not result in the destruction of public facilities.

“For those who take to the streets, what are you doing? If you are against a rule, go to the House of Representatives. There is a thing called a public hearing for you to get your voices heard,” she said.

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