Student Protests in a Dark Indonesia

From #IndonesiaGelap (Dark Indonesia) to the Streets: A Movement in the Making?

Students held a protest in Jakarta on Friday (February 21, 2025). Several participants of the Indonesia Gelap movement carried posters with demands and criticisms directed at the Prabowo-Gibran administration. Credit: Tribunnews.

From Absurd to Alarming: When the News Stops Being Funny

Since the February 2024 general election, followed by the regional elections in November, I’ve grown exhausted and fed up with Indonesian politics.

When Indonesia’s 8th president was inaugurated last October, I had hoped for some kind of inner peace. But who was I kidding? Forget inner peace — the news just keeps getting more absurd, ridiculous, and downright frustrating.

From the bloated cabinet (48 ministries plus 5 ministerial-level agencies!), the foreign policy blunder over China’s South China Sea claims, the plan to pardon persons convicted as corruptors as long as they return stolen money (seriously?!), the fencing off of the sea at Pantai Indah Kapuk (imagine — fencing off the sea?!), to something as basic as the 3 kg LPG crisis — it’s a never-ending circus.

Queues of residents to purchase 3-kg LPG occurred in early February 2025, precisely after the policy banning the sale of 3-kg LPG at the retail level was implemented on February 1, 2025.
This policy required people to buy 3-kg LPG directly from official distribution points, resulting in long queues in various regions across Indonesia. Credit: NusaBali.com

Let’s not ignore the elephant in the room: around 82.29% of the population falls into the poor, near-poor, or aspiring middle class categories, while only 17.3% are solidly middle…