Jakarta (Indonesia) (AFP) – Thousands of Indonesians protested in Jakarta and other cities Wednesday against economic hardship, graft, and the government’s handling of devastating wildfires emitting a toxic haze that has sickened thousands. Many demonstrators held up the three-finger salute of rebellion from the dystopian franchise “The Hunger Games” and waved posters with angry messages such as: “Hungry? Eat the Rich!” and “If we burn, you burn with us.”
Many placards expressed anger towards President Prabowo Subianto, whose popularity two years into his term has reached record lows amid claims of widespread government corruption and growing authoritarianism. “Hey Wok! Nobody paid us. We all hate you for free,” stated one sign, using a pejorative for the president, while another blared: “No Clean Air Under Dirty Government.”
Protester Sekar, 37, told AFP her “heart is shattered” by the plight of compatriots battling months of wildfires and haze while also contending with the effects of a weakening currency and higher prices. “I came here from home with the intention of protecting the students” who called the demonstration, Sekar told AFP. “I will be looking for any police officers who lay hands on them and take them away, and I will be the first to step forward to defend them.”
Police said about 14,000 of its officers, as well as soldiers, had deployed to keep a lid on the demonstrations in Jakarta. AFP witnessed some pushing and shoving between front-row protesters and officers trying to keep the surging crowd away from Jakarta’s central Bundaran HI public square, surrounded by businesses and embassies. Some in the crowd hurled half-empty plastic water bottles at law enforcers.
The protest organizing committee, which calls itself SADAR, meaning “aware” in Bahasa Indonesia, said the action was meant to mark a “revolution that is being proclaimed.” The group is demanding that the government declare a national emergency to unlock more resources to fight wildfires across the vast archipelago. Deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas says the blazes have destroyed more than 1.9 million hectares in the nine months to September.
“Hundreds and thousands of people are suffering” from the fires, said protester Annette Mau, 47, of the Indonesian Mothers’ Alliance, an NGO. “Tens of thousands of babies are suffering from health problems. They cannot breathe” because of the fires emitting a toxic haze that has spread far across the region. The pollution has also damaged Indonesia’s relations with its neighbors.
Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan was expected to meet Prabowo in Jakarta on Wednesday, a day after saying the haze was “not a natural phenomenon” and the fires “were caused by human action.” Annette accused the government of “trying to cover” up the problem rather than address it. “They’re trying to make excuses,” she said. “We are being oppressed by the tyrannical regime.”
A statement sent to AFP by protest organizers said that under Prabowo, “the sovereignty of the ruling class takes precedence over the sovereignty of the people.” They pointed to “mismanagement of the debt-burdened economy; environmental and energy exploitation that has triggered an ecological crisis; and the erosion of the rule of law and democracy.” There were also protests in the cities of Bandung outside Jakarta, Malang and Yogyakarta elsewhere on Java island, and Makassar on the south of Sulawesi island.
© 2024 AFP
