JAKARTA — Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced Saturday that parliament will strip back a series of lucrative perks for lawmakers after days of swelling protests turned deadly, leaving at least five people dead and dozens injured.
What began as a peaceful outcry over inflated allowances and overseas trips for legislators spiraled into the most violent unrest of Prabowo’s young presidency. Demonstrations erupted in Jakarta and spread swiftly across the archipelago, fueled by outrage at a viral video showing a police vehicle running over a motorcycle taxi driver during a rally. The driver, 27-year-old Affan Kurniawan, later died of his injuries.
“The leaders in parliament have agreed to revoke a number of policies, including the size of allowances for members and a moratorium on foreign trips,” Prabowo told reporters at the Presidential Palace, flanked by party leaders. He vowed to investigate Kurniawan’s death and support his family, while confirming seven officers from the armored van had been detained.
But the president’s concessions came with a warning. While reaffirming the right to peaceful assembly, he ordered police and the military to act firmly against rioters and looters. “We cannot deny that some actions lean toward treason and terrorism,” he said.
The protests reached fever pitch by the weekend. In Makassar, in eastern Indonesia, three people were killed after demonstrators torched a local council building. In other cities—Bandung, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, and Medan—crowds clashed with police and set fire to politicians’ homes and state facilities.
At the heart of the anger lies a stark disparity: lawmakers’ housing stipends, nearly ten times the capital’s minimum wage, laid bare as millions of Indonesians grapple with rising living costs.
For Prabowo, the unrest marks a defining test less than a year into his five-year term. Whether Saturday’s concessions will calm the streets—or embolden demands for deeper reform—remains uncertain.
