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Since late August, protests have been rife in Indonesia as a result of allegations that politicians have received a $3, 000 housing allowance on top of their salaries, which is equal to between 10 and 20 times the minimum wage in Indonesia.

It was not the first time that Indonesians have taken to the streets this year.

In February and March, students turned out to protest against a range of unpopular government policies, including cuts to the national budget and a proposed new law expanding the role of the military in political affairs.

Al Jazeera spoke with five Indonesians* about the issues that led to the recent wave of demonstrations and what needs to change in their nation of more than 283 million people.

Death of a food delivery driver

A motorcycle delivery driver, Affan Kurniawan, 21, was hit and killed by a police car during protests in Jakarta, where the anger soared.

At the time of his death, Kurniawan allegedly attempted to follow a food delivery order but did not participate in demonstrations.

Several police officers are now being investigated over his death, and one has already been fired from his position.

Indonesia’s ubiquitous food delivery drivers are frequently portrayed as a reminder of the country’s low employment prospects and as a permanent reminder of its poorly paid “gig-economy,” where workers are frequently economically exploited and socially marginalized.

Imran, a food delivery driver from Langkat in North Sumatra, claimed inequality was the primary reason for the country’s erratic protests.

“Including economic inequality, educational inequality, health inequality and unequal public services”, Imran told Al Jazeera.

The House of Representatives of the nation continued to ask for a monthly housing allowance of 50 million Indonesian rupiah, or roughly $3, 000, despite the economic hardships facing ordinary citizens, Imran claimed.

“They are not concerned about our fate. They should be present to help the community’s issues, not to start the flames. Imran claimed that the community’s precarious economic conditions contributed to these protests.

“We hope the government will quickly find a solution to address these issues so that people will no longer take to the streets to demand their rights”, he said.

“We belong to a people who longs for peace,” the statement read. There won’t be more marches on the streets if our rights are respected. We want clean and transparent bureaucracy”, he added.

The House of Representatives also decided on Thursday against raising lawmakers’ salaries and enforcing a ban on their “non-essential overseas trips,” according to the Jakarta Globe, and the local news outlet reported on Friday that the housing allowance had been eliminated as a result of the demonstrations.

economic issues

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who has been in power since October, promised on taking office to raise economic growth to 8 percent within the next five years.

However, the president has struggled to keep the books afloat, in part because of the government’s reportedly $ 10 billion per year’s free lunch program, which provides for millions of schoolchildren.

The government of Prabowo’s government cut state expenditures by $ 18 billion, with the biggest cuts being made in healthcare, public works, and education, partially due to the free food initiative.

A prominent Indonesian political analyst* told Al Jazeera that many people feel “disgusted” by the cuts to government spending, and now that Prabowo has been in power for a year, they have a good idea of “how he actually governs”, compared with promises made during his election campaign.

The analyst claimed that the emperor had no clothes but promoted himself as an economic reformer.

Not all is lost yet, however, for the president.

He still has a chance to resolve this. The analyst claimed that the government still has “a lot of room to maneuver” to repair the damage and make concessions.

“A lot of it has to do with damage control as the protests are targeted against the elite and the establishment in general”, he said, adding the president could build goodwill with the public by holding people to account for corruption and excessive force in dealing with protesters.

He ought to arrest a few people, fire a few, and bring them to justice. The analyst believes that would be the best way to keep his presidency intact.

Right to protest

Incredulity grew after the delivery driver Kurniawan’s death, leading to the arrest of protesters who stormed parliamentarians and Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Indonesia’s finance minister.

Demonstrators also allegedly set fire to a Sulawesi regional government national assembly building in Makassar, killing three people, in addition.

As police deployed water cannon and tear gas to disperse crowds in cities across the country, including on university campuses, Prabowo told the country’s security forces to get tough on protests that showed signs of “treason and terrorism”.

Due to “real frustration about economic issues in Indonesia,” Afifah, a women’s rights activist based in Jakarta, claimed there have been demonstrations since the start of the year, and not just in recent weeks.

She added that there was “worry about the military expanding its authority over civilians, access to the job market, and widespread poverty.”

In the face of the demonstrations, authorities used tear gas, which suppressed the people’s “right to protest” peacefully in Indonesia, Afifah said.

She told Al Jazeera, “The police should be told that they do not have the right to end demonstrations.”

“We need widespread reform in Indonesia, and the system needs to change. In this nation, there are three main issues: the economy, the environment, and democracy. Complete reform is required, and it also needs to involve all social groups, including women.

Cost of living crisis

The Bank of Indonesia recorded a 2.31 percent increase in August 2025, an increase that is consistent with the cost-of-living crisis in Indonesia.

Many Indonesians claim that the government’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth figures do not accurately reflect the state of the economy, especially in rural areas, despite the government’s claim that the country’s GDP increased by 5.12% in the second quarter of this year.

Rahmawati, a housewife living in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, said public anger had “finally exploded …because we feel like no one cares about us”.

Politicians shouldn’t be concerned about the public when they need it, such as when elections are in hand. Then they arrive and make all these sweet promises about how they will act on our behalf. When they get elected, they forget about us”, Rahmawati told Al Jazeera.

She said, “We want them to be interested in our needs and us.”

“Basic food costs increase every year but never decrease.” Groceries are becoming more and more difficult to afford”, she added.

Military issues

The most recent demonstrations are part of a series that started earlier this year, including those involving the passage of a contentious law allowing military personnel to take on more senior government positions.

Since his election, former special forces general Prabowo, who was once a son-in-law of the country’s feared dictator Soeharto, has reportedly established dozens of new military battalions, with plans to create hundreds more over the next five years.

Aceh Province, which fought for independence from Indonesia for more than 30 years, where a long history of repression by the armed forces has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Acehnese before it became a semi-autonomous region in 2005.

Although the Acehnese do not “typically respond” to Indonesian “national issues,” Muhammad, a social worker in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh, claimed demonstrations had taken place there as well.

“But, in the interests of solidarity, there was a demonstration in front of the regional assembly in Banda Aceh. No riots or anarchy, according to Muhammad, were the results of the local government’s protests.

According to him, “our protest was a way to air our opinions with a local twist on a national issue,” adding that the protests focused on the central government’s alleged plan to build five new military battalions in Aceh.

“We reject this, and it is very sensitive”, he added.

“With the military, we’ve already had 35 years of conflict.”