{"id":7239,"date":"2026-06-12T16:35:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T16:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/indonesian-students-protest-govt-policies-amid-economic-strain\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T16:35:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T16:35:27","slug":"indonesian-students-protest-govt-policies-amid-economic-strain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/indonesian-students-protest-govt-policies-amid-economic-strain\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesian students protest gov\u2019t policies amid economic strain"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Demonstrators are asking for lower fuel and food prices, and the cancellation of \u2018wasteful\u2019 welfare programmes.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Some 1,500 Indonesian students have taken to the streets of the capital to protest against a series of economic policies by the government of President Prabowo Subianto, as Southeast Asia\u2019s biggest economy faces mounting fiscal pressures amid a global supply chain crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Demonstrators in Jakarta outlined five key demands for the government on Friday, particularly the lowering of fuel and food prices.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2026\/6\/12\/torture-isnt-new-to-palestinians-how-israel-learned-from-colonialism\">\u2018Torture isn\u2019t new to Palestinians\u2019: How Israel learned from colonialism<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2026\/6\/12\/is-israels-buffer-zone-inside-lebanon-an-attempt-to-grab-gas-reserves\">Is Israel\u2019s \u2018buffer zone\u2019 inside Lebanon an attempt to grab gas reserves?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2026\/6\/12\/family-mourn-indian-sailor-killed-in-us-strike-on-oil-tanker\">Family mourn Indian sailor killed in US strike on oil tanker<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/12\/iraq-analysis-militias-disarm\">Iraq\u2019s paramilitary groups say they will disarm. Will that ever happen?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>They also urged the government to roll back state welfare programmes they say are expensive and \u201cwasteful\u201d, including Prabowo\u2019s flagship <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/gallery\/2025\/1\/6\/indonesia-kicks-off-first-free-meal-programme-for-children-pregnant-women\">free meals<\/a> and village cooperative initiatives.<\/p>\n<p>Called the \u201cHeading to Bankrupt Indonesia\u201d protests, demonstrators donned yellow university jackets after Friday prayers and marched towards Jakarta\u2019s central monument, the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, where they gathered and voiced their frustration.<\/p>\n<p>Organisers told reporters that some protesters were blocked from joining by the police and military officials. Scuffles broke out as some students attempted to break through the police lines and metal barricades.<\/p>\n<p>Some 6,000 police and soldiers were deployed to the march.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"the-government-is-in-denial\">\u2018The government is in denial\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Indonesia\u2019s government has kept fuel prices unchanged even in the face of global energy spikes and supply chain disruptions as a result of the US and Israel\u2019s war on Iran.<\/p>\n<p>However, growing economic pressures on the import-dependent country have weakened the currency, with the rupiah hitting a historic low of 18,000 rupiah to the US dollar earlier in June, down from 16,000 in March.<\/p>\n<p>This week, the government introduced a 32 percent price hike, angering many.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, demonstrators on Friday called for more targeted spending. The $15bn-a-year free meals programme, which aims to reduce poverty and malnutrition, for example, has been the subject of a corruption probe, with Prabowo firing the programme\u2019s head in early June.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWasteful spending on free meals has led to a fiscal situation where subsidies initially provided had been withdrawn,\u201d student protester Rafael Arreva told the Reuters news agency while standing in front of a police blockade.<\/p>\n<p>Protesters also demanded an end to the expanding role of the military in government, saying it was a threat to the country\u2019s young democracy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government is in denial about the current situation,\u201d Yatalathof Ma\u2019shum Imawan, who chairs the student group that organised the rally, told The Associated Press. \u201cWe urge Prabowo to have the courage to acknowledge his mistake and stop denying it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indonesia last saw mass protests in August when demonstrators called for housing reforms. Clashes between protesters and security forces left at least 13 people dead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Demonstrators are asking for lower fuel and food prices, and the cancellation of \u2018wasteful\u2019 welfare programmes. Some 1,500 Indonesian students have taken to the streets of the capital to protest against a series of economic policies by the government of President Prabowo Subianto, as Southeast Asia\u2019s biggest economy faces mounting fiscal pressures amid a global &#8230; <a title=\"Indonesian students protest gov\u2019t policies amid economic strain\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/indonesian-students-protest-govt-policies-amid-economic-strain\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Indonesian students protest gov\u2019t policies amid economic strain\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}