JAKARTA: Less than a year after nationwide unrest shook Indonesia in August 2025, student groups are set to return to the streets on Friday (June 12), demanding an end to President Prabowo Subianto’s costly flagship programmes as economic pressures mount and the rupiah sinks to a record low.
The University of Indonesia’s Student Executive Body (BEM UI) had announced that it would stage a protest at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta, calling on students and members of the public to join the demonstration.
“Nearly two years [this administration] has been wrecking the country. The weakening rupiah is shrugged off, human rights are ignored and questionable programs continue,” BEM UI wrote in its Instagram post on Wednesday.
“Let us take to the streets and exercise our rights as citizens.” Albani Ilmi, head of BEM UI’s action and propaganda department, told The Jakarta Post that Friday’s protest would involve a broad coalition of student bodies from Jakarta and the surrounding areas, including those from IPB University, Jakarta State Polytechnic, Pancasila University and Gunadarma University.
The planned rally follows a “national consolidation” meeting held at UI on Wednesday evening, where students and activists gathered to discuss growing concerns over the country’s economic trajectory.
The rupiah has emerged as Asia’s worst-performing currency this year, hitting a historic low on June 8 after falling beyond Rp 18,000 per United States dollar and extending its losses to more than 7 per cent since the start of 2026.
In a statement on Thursday, BEM UI chairman Yatalathof Ma'shum Imawan argued that the government had failed to adjust its spending priorities despite the crisis, continuing to fund expensive flagship programs such as the free nutritious meal programme and the red-and-white village cooperatives projects.
“The government is in denial about the current situation and has degraded the struggles and criticisms voiced by the people,” Yatalathof said.
“Not to mention its use of state apparatus as a tool to silence those who speak out.”
He said Friday's protest would call on the government to halt what students describe as “wasteful spending” on the two flagship programs, lower fuel and staple food prices and stop what they see as the increasing militarization of civilian affairs.
The protest will mark the second major student mobilization under Prabowo’s administration since the nationwide demonstrations of August last year, when thousands of students, workers and activists rallied against lawmakers’ lavish perks amid worsening economic conditions.
The unrest left at least 13 people dead, including online motorcycle transportation driver Affan Kurniawan, who was fatally run over by a police tactical vehicle while passing near a protest site.
An independent investigation later described the state’s response as Indonesia’s “largest suppression since the reform movement [of 1998]”, citing more than 6,000 arrests and allegations of torture, forced confessions and short-term enforced disappearances.
Political analyst Firman Noor of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) said the renewed student mobilisation should not be ignored by the government.
“This shows that the students have found their momentum again,” Firman told the Post on Thursday.
“There is a possibility that the protest will be significant and that the government will need to pay attention and listen to them.”
However, he noted that the movement’s long-term impact would depend on whether student groups could broaden support beyond university campuses. Muzammil Ihsan, national coordinator of the All-Indonesia Student Executive Bodies alliance (BEM SI), said the organisation was also “consolidating” ahead of a larger mobilization, without elaborating further.
Separately, BEM SI’s Central Java chapter issued on June 5 an 18-day ultimatum for the government to address the weakening rupiah and broader economic concerns, warning that it could launch a “Second Reform” movement if its demands went unanswered.
National Police chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo responded on Wednesday by urging students to exercise their right to protest “in an orderly manner.” - The Jakarta Post/ANN
