Jakarta – The wave of demonstrations in Jakarta and several other regions over the past week has formulated a number of demands to the government regarding improvements in bureaucratic governance and law enforcement.
Initially, a protest action was held by students in front of the parliament complex on August 25. The demonstration turned violent after police forcibly dispersed the students' action at around 2 pm.
Following this, another wave of marathon protests were held on August 28-31. In Jakarta, the protests then spread to three locations: the House of Representatives (DPR), the Jakarta Regional Police (Polda Metro Jaya) and the Kwitang Mobile Brigade (Brimob) Headquarters in Senen, Central Jakarta.
The wave of protest actions spread followed the death of Affan Kurniawan (21), an online motorcycle taxi (ojol) driver who was killed after being run over by a Brimob tactical vehicle during a demonstration in Jakarta on August 28.
The actions then spread to a number of other provinces and big cities throughout Indonesia such as Bandung (West Java), Surabaya (East Java), Makassar (South Sulawesi) and Medan (North Sumatra).
The Civil Society Coalition has released a list of demands in response to the series of demonstrations. The demands include calls for the government and the DPR to immediately implement improvements, even including reforming the management of the government.
Quoting from the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta) Instagram account, the demands are formulated as "The 17+8 people's demands: transparency, reform, and empathy".
The coalition is demanding that the 17 demands be fulfilled within a week as of September 5. The remaining eight demands must be resolved within one year. The list is as follows:
1. Withdraw the Indonesian Military (TNI) from civilian security and ensure there is no criminalisation of demonstrators.
2. Form an investigation team into the death of Affan Kurniawan and all demonstrators who were victims of the August 25-31 demonstrations.
3. Freeze increases in allowances, salaries and other new facilities for members of the DPR.
4. Publish a budget that is transparent.
5. Push the DPR's Ethics Council to investigate problematic members.
6. Dismiss or sanction political party leaders who are unethical and provoke public anger.
7. Announce the political party's commitment to side with the people.
8. Involve political party leaders in dialogue with the public.
9. Release all detained demonstrators.
10. Stop repressive actions and excessive violence by security forces while guarding demonstrations.
11. Arrest and prosecute officers who order or carry out repressive actions.
12. The TNI must immediately return to the barracks.
13. The TNI must not take over the functions of the National Police; enforce internal discipline.
14. Do not invade civilian spaces during the democratic crisis.
15. Ensure a living wage for workers.
16. The government must immediately take emergency measures to prevent mass layoffs.
17. Open dialogue with trade unions to find solutions to low wages and outsourcing.
Eight additional long-term demands that must be fulfilled by August 31, 2026:
1. A massive cleanup and reform the DPR; conduct audits and raise the qualifications for DPR members.
2. Reform the political parties; political parties must publish financial reports and ensure their oversight function is runs properly.
3. Reform the tax sector fairly.
4. Enact the Asset Confiscation Bill.
5. Reform the police force to be professional and humane.
6. Return the TNI to the barracks.
7. Strengthen the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) and other independent oversight bodies.
8. Review economic and employment sector policies, starting with National Strategic Projects (PSN), evaluating the Omnibus Law on Job Creation and the management of the Danantara sovereign wealth fund.
(thr/isn)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Poin-poin Lengkap 17+8 Tuntutan Rakyat untuk Pemerintahan Prabowo".]
