Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto was forced to cut the welfare of lawmakers after days of anti-government riots last week.
Prabowo’s announcement Sunday was to quell the protests, which led to the worst violence in decades and killed at least five people.
Protests began on Monday by protesters saying that lawmakers are beginning Excessive salary and housing allowance. A motorcycle driver escalated to riot Friday after he died in a police operation at the protest site.
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Houses of party members and national buildings were looted or burned, shocking investors’ confidence in the Southeast Asian economy and triggered a huge sell-off in stocks and money markets on Friday.
The state news agency reported on Sunday that robbers broke into a house owned by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati outside the capital Jakarta. She was not in the house at the time and it was not clear whether she used the property frequently.
More protests are planned on Monday, and the student groups did not cancel the protests after Prabowo announced the news.
Prabowo, speaking at a press conference in the Presidential Palace and speaking on both sides of leaders of various political parties, said he ordered military and police to take harsh action against rioters and predators. He said some unrest showed signs of terrorism and treason.
“Parliamentary leaders communicated that they would revoke many parliamentary policies, including the stipends for members of parliament and the scale of suspension of overseas work trips,” Prabowo said.
He added: “For the police and the military, I order them to act as firm as possible to prevent damage to public facilities and looting houses in individual and economic centers.”
Prabowo Cancel Travel in China
The protests were the biggest challenge of the Prabowo government to date, a challenge that has had little political opposition since taking office a year ago.
Prabowo, who canceled the high-profile China trip due to the turmoil, also held a meeting with key members of his cabinet at the Presidential Palace on Sunday to discuss the situation.
Witnesses said many ministers and political leaders who arrived at the palace used civilian numbers rather than special plates given to officials, which was clearly a turbulent security measure in some places.
Army was deployed to protect the palace above the usual Secret Service details. The military also guarded many of the main ministers’ houses and government facilities on Sunday.
It is unclear who was behind the riots and robberies following the protests, which were originally organized by the Student Association.
Muzammil Ihsan, head of all Indonesian student executives at the country’s largest student umbrella group, told Reuters that “cutting legislators’ allowances” was “not enough” and said further demonstrations were being considered.
“The government must address deep-rooted problems. There is no reason for anger in the streets,” Ihsan said.
Tegar Afriansyah, president of the younger student group that has been protesting since Monday, said the presidential announcement did not address the root cause of the problem, namely “political oligarchs and inequality economic structures.”
The president’s order is “over-excessive”
He called Prabowo’s instructions “apparently repressive and daunting” by the police and the military.
In a statement, the Indonesian chapter of Amnesty International’s global rights oversight said Prabowo used terms such as treason and terrorism as “excessive.”
Tiktok, owned by Chinese orcs, said it has suspended live performances for several days in Indonesia.
According to local disaster management agencies in McCasar, South Sulawesi, the death toll rose to five. It said an online motorcycle taxi driver was beaten to death by a mob, accusing him of being an intelligence officer.
Three other people were killed in a fire attack on the local parliament building on Friday.
- Jim Pollard’s additional editor Reuters
Note: The title of this report was revised on September 1, 2025.
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