Jakarta – "Dark Indonesia" (Indonesia Gelap) student actions have again hit the streets on Thursday February 20 in a number of regions around the country after the first, second and third day of demonstrations on Monday February 17, Tuesday February 18 and Wednesday February 19.
Dark Indonesia actions were held yesterday in Palembang (South Sumatra), Medan (North Sumatra), Jakarta, Yogyakarta (Central Java) and Mataram (West Nusa Tenggara).
This was observed from leaflets circulating on social media and also confirmed by All Indonesia Student Executive Council (BEM SI) Coordinator Anas Rabbani last Thursday. He said that BEM SI together with the civil society coalition had consolidated to agree on the technical aspects of the actions this Friday.
"Today's follow up consolidation will discuss the mechanisms of the follow up movement, including about technical issues on Friday", Rabbani told CNN Indonesia on Thursday February 20.
Meanwhile, in response to the wave of "Dark Indonesia" actions that that have taken place in various parts of the country, the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and its regional Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) offices have opened a channel for complains about violence by the authorities.
Protesters can access the channel through a number of telephone numbers that have been attached through uploads on the account @yayasanlbhindonesia.
"Currently the LBH-YLBHI is opening complaint posts in the form of legal aid and anti-criminalisation centres in 18 regions", read the upload.
Jakarta
On Thursday, the Dark Indonesian student action alliance in Jakarta was again blocked by the police in front of the Arjuna Wijaya Statue (Horse Statue) about one kilometre from the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta.
The action was held around mid-afternoon where in the morning Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto simultaneously inaugurated 961 newly elected regional heads at the Presidential Palace.
During the action, the protesting students voiced the same demands, the same nine demands that were read out before the Minister of State Secretary (Menesesneg) Prasetyo Hadi who met with demonstrators at the protest on Thursday evening.
The nine demands raised at the Dark Indonesian action included reviewing Presidential Instruction (Inpres) Number 1/2025 on budget cuts, rejecting the problematic revisions to the Mineral and Coal Mining Law (UU Minerba), rejecting the TNI's (Indonesian Military) dwi-fungsi (dual socio-political role), rejecting cawe-cawe (meddling) by former president Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in the Prabowo administration, transparency over the status of development projects and public taxes and the ratification of the Draft Law on Asset Confiscation.
Then increasing the quality of education and health nationally, rejecting impunity and resolving cases of gross human rights violations, as well as a massive re-evaluation of free nutritious meals (MBG) program.
Yogyakarta
The Jogja Calling Alliance held a #Wearewiththepeople (#Bersamarakyat) action in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta on Thursday as part of the marathon of Dark Indonesia demonstrations throughout Indonesia.
The alliance held a long-march to the demonstration point in front of the Agung Building or Yogyakarta Presidential Palace. The marchers filled the Jalan Malioboro shopping district which is an icon of Yogyakarta tourism.
The demonstrators took time out to stop in front of the Yogyakarta provincial Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) where they gave speeches in front of the people's representatives building before continuing the march to the action point.
The protesters, who consisted of various different social groups, activists and student alliances, all wore black clothing having removed their jackets identifying their respective campuses.
Along the way they shouted a "revolution" while carrying posters and large banners. One of them read "Free Food, Free Education".
In front of the Agung Building they put up a huge banner with the message "The People are Angry" along with a red-and-white banner reading "#DarkIndonesia. Garuda Pancasila (the national emblem) is Not a Puppet of the Constitution". They also flew the red-and-white national flag at half mast next to the Agung Building.
During the action the protesters also highlighted the alleged repression of the punk band Sukatani from Purbalingga regency who recently withdraw a song critical of the police titled "Pay, Pay, Pay" (Bayar, Bayar, Bayar) from all live streaming services.
Speaking through a loudspeaker from the command vehicle, one of the participants at the action said Sukatani had become a victim of repression of freedom of expression and the arts. The allegations of repression surfaced after Sukatani band members announced the withdrawal of the song "Pay, Pay, Pay" from all music platforms and made a public apology to the police as an institution and the national police chief.
"I'm not going to give a speech here. I will only speak about Sukatani which has become a victim of repression, they were repressed', said the speaker in front of the Agung Building on Thursday.
According to the speaker, the song "Pay, Pay, Pay" symbolises the unrest felt towards unscrupulous members of the police. Using a loudspeaker from the command car, they then played the song "Getting Older, Getting More Punk" by Sukatani as a form of solidarity.
Medan
Students in the provincial capital of Medan protested in front of the North Sumatra (Sumut) DPRD on Thursday afternoon.
Like the series of other Dark Indonesia actions, the demonstrators in front of the North Sumatra DPRD also protested the Prabowo administration's budget efficiency cuts which they believe has financially harmed many parties. They also highlighted Prabowo's bloated cabinet in the midst of budget efficiency efforts by the central government.
Quoting from the Detik Sumut news portal, the student protesters also set fire to tyres at the font gate to the people's representatives building. In addition to this, they put up several banners on the DPRD gates with protest messages such as "Efficiency, MBG, Bloated Cabinet, Warehouse Problems", "Total Efficiency Evaluation" and "Education was Cut, the Future has been Stolen".
"We don’t reject budget efficiency, but we ask that it be re-evaluated", shouted the demonstrators.
Meanwhile, throughout the demonstration the police remained on guard in front of and behind the North Sumatra DPRD gates.
Palembang
South Sumatra (Sumsel) students who are part of the South Sumatra Courageous Alliance held a Dark Indonesia action in front of the South Sumatra DPRD in Palembang on Thursday.
The hundreds of students from campuses such as the Sriwijaya University, the Youth Pledge College of Law (STIHPADA), the Palembang Indonesian Teachers Association (PGRI) University, the Palembang Health Ministry Polytechnic (Poltekkes), the Muhammadiyah University, the Indo Global Mandiri (IGM) College of Technology and others filled the area on front of the South Sumatra DPRD gates at 4 pm.
Despite being drenched by rain, student representatives from each campus were not afraid to take turns in giving speeches. Of the nine demands articulated, one of the main points of focus was related to the government's budget efficiency measures.
Quoting from the Detik Sumbagsel news portal, after protesting for almost three hours one of the deputy speakers from the South Sumatra DPRD, M Ilyas Panji Alam, was seen coming out to meet the demonstrators. He was seen accompanied by Commission III Deputy Chairperson M Nasir.
Alam uses the occasion to say his party accepted the students' aspirations and would convey them to the relevant agencies.
"We as representative members of the Sumsel DPRD are ready to accept the students' aspirations. We will sign off on (as many as) nine of these demands and convey them to the competent agencies to be followed up," said the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) leader on Thursday.
State Islamic University (UIN) student president Ilham said they went to the DPRD offices to ask the people's representatives to reject the budget efficiency program, especially those related to education costs.
"If all the provincial DPRDs in Indonesia take a stand and reject (the efficiency measures), what else can it do, the government can't realise the budget efficiencies", he said.
Mataram
Hundreds of students in Mataram held a Dark Indonesia action in front of the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) DPRD building in Mataram city on Thursday.
Like the demands at Dark Indonesia actions in other regions of Indonesia they also rejected Inpres Number 1/2025 and the MBG programs.
Quoting from Detik Bali, the coordinator of the Mataram University Faculty of Education and Teacher Training (FKIP) Student Executive Council (BEM), Nazir Huda, gave a speech highlighting the budget cuts – including those to the health and education sectors – allegedly to meet the costs of the MBG program.
After some time taking turns in give speeches, the protesters were finally met by the NTB DPRD Commission IV Chairperson Hamdan Kasim who said he would accept the demonstrators' demands.
"The anxiety of the young students is very touching. We as a political institution, the home of the people accept with open arms and the highest appreciation all of the students' demands", said Kasim.
"We will take up this issue at the DPRD. And we accept, please write them down we'll discuss it, hold a dialogue" he said.
Kasim claimed that he would fight for the students' demands with the central government. The NTB DPRD, he said, would continue discussions on the regional state budget (APBD) so there will be no cuts to the education and health budget.
"We'll follow it through, do what the students are hoping for. We will also convey it to the central government", he said. (ugo/kid)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Rangkaian Hari ke-4 Aksi Indonesia Gelap, dari Jakarta hingga Jogja".]
