Ridho Danu Prasetyo, Tri Susanto Setiawan, Jakarta – The commemoration of Heroes' Day on Tuesday November 10 was marked by a series of demonstrations at a number of points in Jakarta from morning through to the evening.
Waves of demonstrations took place alternately and in a marathon. The actions started in front of the House of Representatives (DPR) Building in the morning, then continued to the National Monument (Monas) area and the Famers Monument (Tugu Tani) in the afternoon until evening.
Several groups of protesters took to the streets with different demands, ranging from the welfare of government employees, reform of the National Police (Polri) to environmental issues and government policies.
Government employees rally at DPR
The protest actions on November 10 were opened in the morning by a crowd from the part-time Government Employees Association with a Work Agreements (PPPK) from Pandeglang regency, Banten province.
Located in front of the DPR Building, the employees urged the government to raise their employment status to full-time PPPK (Work Contract Government Employees) starting January 1, 2027.
They complained about a reduction in working hours which had an impact on their honorarium. Currently, the honorarium they receive is only around 450,000 rupiah per month.
"What the protesters want is one request, from part-time PPPK to full-time", Pandeglang Part-Time PPPK Alliance deputy chairperson Zainal Mutakin told Kompas.com at the location.
Mutakin also highlighted the uncertain welfare of employees because honorarium payments from the regional government were often delayed.
"The honorarium is not commensurate with our work in the field. Usually the payment can be two, three or four months in arrears", said Mutakin.
BEM Nusantara calls for police reform
Later in the afternoon at around 3.50 pm, a group from the Nusantara Student Executive Board (BEM Nusantara) Alliance arrived at Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan.
The crowd consisting of students from Borobudur University, the Indonesian Aviation College (STPI), the Krisnadwipayana University and the Bhayangkara University (Ubhara Jaya) held an action on the south side of the road, right in front of the BSI Tower.
The presence of Ubhara Jaya students was in the spotlight because they specifically spoke out for accelerating reform within the National Police (Polri) and ending abuse of power.
This was articulated even though their campus is under the auspices of the National Police.
"We also took up the issue of accelerating Polri reform. Now, this is because we are also from Bhayangkara University, which indeed has the label of Bhayangkara as a campus under the auspices of the Polri, but we are on the side of the community", said Ubhara Jaya Student President Muhammad Fathir Alhudaya.
Alhudaya emphasised that Ubhara Jaya students side with the community. He also reminded people that the main task of the police is to protect the ordinary people.
"Because with the tagline from General Suyudi Ario Seto that is 'Police Together with the Community', that's what we emphasise and want to make happen together, actually, like that", said Alhudaya.
The situation at the action heated up at around 5.15 pm when police officers and the crowd began hitting each other, pushing and shoving and even throwing bottles from both directions.
The chaos was triggered by the screams of a student who claimed he was hit by police when he tried to break down a barricade to hold a demonstration in front of the State Palace.
"Hey, don't hit us! We are the people! Open the way, don't hit us!", shouted one of the students.
Gambir Metropolitical Sectoral Police Chief (Kapolsek Metro Gambir) Assistant Superintendent Agus Ady Wijaya then intervened to break up the chaos and withdraw his officers.
In the midst of this situation, a man suspected of stealing a mobile phone belonging to a Krisnadwipayana University student was caught red-handed.
The perpetrator was beaten before fleeing towards Jalan Kebon Sirih. He was eventually handed over to police by a medical team.
Al-Azhar students climb barricades
At almost the same time, a group of Al-Azhar Indonesia University (UAI) students arrived in the Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan area in a convoy of motorbikes from the Farmers Monument.
The crowd, which was wearing navy blue alma maters jackets, held an action on the north side of the road. They insisted on conveying their aspirations peacefully right in front of the State Palace.
A number of demands were articulated ranging from calls for declaring forest and land fires (karhutla) a national disaster, providing health services for communities affected by acute respiratory infections (ISPA) to improving the formulation of the education budget, which was deemed to be impacted on by budget cuts to finance the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program.
Because they were blocked by police barricades, a number of students were determined to climb the iron fence. They even occupied the roof of a tactical vehicle belonging to the Ditsamapta Tactical Police Unit Corps which was parked to block the road.
From atop the barricades, students waved red and white flags while leading protest songs and urging police to open access to Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat.
One of the speakers on the command vehicle said they regretted the actions of the police who completely closed off access to the State Palace.
"From the start we wanted to convey our aspirations to the president, so we should be allowed to hold an action in front of the State Palace", said the speaker.
UBSI students rally at Farmers Monument
Meanwhile, dozens of Bina Sarana Informatics University (UBSI) students held a demonstration under the Famers Monument heroes statue.
The crowd, wearing blue alma mater jackets, staged a theatrical action by scattering flowers over the bodies of participants lying on the road. The action was accompanied by the song "My Homeland" (Tanah Airku) and a three-finger salute.
Through their speeches, they clarified and criticised the existence of fake students who wore UBSI alma mater jackets during the Youth Pledge declaration at the Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle on October 28.
"We swear that they are not part of us", said one of the speakers shouted.
The UBSI students' action also received support from actor Jefri Nichol. He was present carrying a poster that read "Forest on fire, masterminds on the loose".
Nichol called on the community not to stop monitoring environmental issues and government policies, including forest fires, the MBG program and the impacts experienced by the community.
"Don't just stop making noise about forest fires, about MBG, children being poisoned, victims having their activities and lives disrupted, victims who died because of the smoke", said Nichol.
He also asked the government to prioritise handling disaster-affected areas rather than imposing new programs.
"Meaning that there are still many important issues that the government still needs to fix, such as NTT [the East Nusa Tenggara earthquake in August] which has not yet fully recovered, Sumatra is now flooded again. Don't carry out programs that are clearly dilapidated, there's no point", he said.
IKJ students hold a theatrical action at DPR
On the other hand, in the afternoon the area in front of the DPR Building was also occupied with an action by students from the Jakarta Arts Institute (IKJ).
Hundreds of students held a theatrical performances and made paintings as a way of conveying their aspirations.
IKJ student representative Patan highlighted the state budget (APBN) allocation for the MBG program which is considered not to be on target.
"We all know that there are still many other APBN priorities that benefit government programs such as MBG, which in the end are not aimed directly at society at large", said Patan.
Instead of conveying their demands through speeches, the IKJ students chose to use their skills in the arts to voice criticism of government policies.
Police blockade Jalan Thamrin
The series of demonstrations continued until evening. At around 6.30 pm the group of students using motorbikes began to disperse from the Farmers Monument area and crossed Jalan MH Thamrin.
The students actually wanted to return to their respective campuses via Jalan Jenderal Sudirman.
However, in order to anticipate the possibility of protesters entering and controlling the HI traffic circle area, the police formed a line and blocked the intersection in front of the Sarinah shopping centre.
This sudden blockage resulted in motorists becoming stuck and unable to continue their journey. A number of motorists also protested against the police blockade.
After quite tough negotiations with representatives of the protesters, the police finally directed the group of students to change their return route and go via Jalan KH Wahid Hasyim towards the Tanah Abang Market.
After all the student groups had passed and dispersed from the Sarinah area, the police opened the blockade again.
Traffic flow on Jalan MH Thamrin towards the HI traffic circle gradually returning to normal and by 7 pm vehicles were able to pass without hinderance.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Rentetan Demo 10 November di Jakarta: Dari DPR, Monas hingga Tugu Tani".]
