Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Sunday criticized ongoing protests over social inequality and economic conditions in the country, though he also appeared to offer some concessions called for in the initial protests.
“The rights to peaceful assembly should be respected and protected,” he said in a speech at the presidential palace in the capital Jakarta. “But we cannot deny that there are signs of actions outside the law, even against the law, even leaning toward treason and terrorism.”
Indonesia, southeast Asia’s biggest economy, has been rocked by protests in major cities, intensified by the death of motorcycle taxi driver Affan Kurniawan, who was run over by a police vehicle during a demonstration against financial perks for lawmakers on Thursday.
What do we know about the protests?
On Friday night, at least three people were killed after protesters set fire to a council building in the city of Makassar.
The house of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati in South Tangerang, a city neighboring Jakarta, was ransacked in the early hours of Sunday morning, according to a neighbor.
“In the first group of looters, there were dozens of motorcycles ridden by two to three people each,” the witness told the French AFP news agency. “In the second group, there were around 150 people. They looted a television, sound system, living room decorations, clothes, plates, bowls.”
Prabowo offers some concessions
And on Sunday, President Prabowo appeared to offer a major concession, saying that parliament had agreed to revoke some allowances for parliamentarians.
“Leaders in parliament have conveyed that they will revoke a number of parliament policies, including the size of allowances for members of parliament and a moratorium on overseas work trips,” Prabowo announced, flanked by the leaders of various political parties.
But he also added that the state “must protect the people in the face of the destruction on public property” and said he had ordered the police and the military to take the “strongest actions” against looters.
On Saturday, Prabowo had canceled a planned trip to China, where he had been due to attend a “Victory Day” parade on September 3 marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two following the formal surrender of Japan.
Meanwhile, social media app TikTok, which has more than 100 million users in Indonesia, said Saturday it had temporarily suspended its live feature for “a few days” in the country.
Edited by: Rana Taha
