Indonesia in anger

Massive demonstrations erupted in Jakarta and several other major cities. A week after the nation celebrated Independence Day, the public was shocked by news of increases in parliamentary income approved by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani. At the same time, the public witnessed soaring prices for basic necessities due to the implementation of the Value Added Tax, which had previously been protested by the public. Furthermore, the Minister of Finance was also attempting to cover the state’s financial deficit by imposing taxes on various public goods.
On the other hand, state officials also readily uttered controversial statements that shocked the public. For example, the Minister of Land Affairs said that people’s land that had not been cultivated for two years would be taken by the state. When asked for his basis, he instead stated that all land belonged to the state and not to your grandfather. After causing public outcry and unrest, the minister, Nusron Wahid, apologized and claimed he was only joking.
Next, the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, Budi Gunawan, also angered the public, especially anime fans, because he considered the raising of the One Piece pirate flag to be treason. Police and military personnel then conducted an operation to arrest and clean up graffiti depicting the straw hat skull and flag-waving figures. Instead of being intimidated, the public even more vigorously waved the One Piece flag in front of the palace during the Independence Day rehearsal.
Public disgust grew when television broadcast scenes of members of parliament dancing upon learning of their increased allowances. The public, suffering from rising prices without corresponding wage increases, viewed this as an injustice that must be resisted.
In Pati, a small city in Central Java, a popular uprising erupted, sparked by a 250% increase in land and building taxes. People helped each other and took to the streets. The Regent, who apologized from a police armored car, was the target of angry mobs who threw stones at him. This incident sparked popular uprisings in other cities, also triggered by tax increases.
In the capital, calls for people to take to the streets on August 25th, demanding the dissolution of parliament. No organization claimed responsibility for this action; both labor and student groups denied being the initiators. There are suspicions that this was orchestrated by intelligence to discredit the mass demonstration by inciting unrest. What ensued was a mass demonstration, with schoolchildren at the forefront. Traffic around the parliament building had to be diverted as the crowd blocked roads and train lines.
The demonstrations continued unabated, and on August 28th, they erupted again. This time, the student movement played a role. The police, unwilling to be caught off guard, conducted a blockade operation, arresting groups of students from various regions who were trying to join the student demonstration in front of the parliament building. The students were arrested without legal basis, some of them accused of causing trouble. But the protests continued, and in fact, grew. Amidst the demonstration, a tragedy occurred: an online motorcycle taxi driver was killed by a police cruiser. The anger of the crowd grew. They chased the police vehicle all the way to the Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters in Kwitang. The crowd remained in front of the headquarters for days, engaging in repeated clashes with the police. Seeing that the situation was unfavorable for the police to maintain order, the military was brought in to maintain order.
Attempts to calm the situation by involving the military have not always been successful. In front of police headquarters, the arrival of soldiers was met with shouts from students urging them to return to their barracks. The crowd in front of police headquarters broke through the fence and entered the yard, while outside, the crowd set fire to bus stops and police posts.
The anger of the masses is the accumulation of public anger stemming from the government’s arrogance in ignoring the public’s voice. If this situation continues to be viewed solely as an outcome and ignored as a cause, this anger will escalate into mass violence. No one wants that to happen, but it can happen. Indonesia in anger now, and it’s possibly turns into Indonesia in danger.

TIME BUSINESS NEWS