On Aug. 25, nationwide protests began in Indonesia after a 50 million rupiah monthly housing allowance was allocated to all 580 lawmakers, which is 10 times the average minimum wage. This later escalated on Aug. 28 after Affan Kurniawan, a delivery driver, was hit and killed by an armed police vehicle purposely despite not being part of the protests.

During these protests, infrastructures such as an MRT Jakarta train station have been destroyed, and members of parliament’s homes were looted. Furthermore, 20 are missing while seven additional people have been killed.

In Makassar, South Sulawesi, three public employees and a Civil Service Police Officer died in a fire deliberately set to a parliament building. A motorcycle taxi driver accused of being an intelligence agent was killed by the crowds in the same area. In Solo, Central Java, a pedicab driver was supposedly exposed to tear gas by police and in Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, a student was allegedly beaten to death.

A press conference later occurred on Aug. 31, where Prabowo stated lawmakers agreed to repeal the “amount of Parliament member allowances and the moratorium on overseas working visits.” Prabowo also stated that he called for increased security measures due to the destruction and looting that occurred

However, according to Abie Besman, a lecturer and researcher in journalism and political communication, Prabowo did not address the main issue.

 “The basic problem is economic justice, fairness in government and accountability,” Besman said. “In the last 24 hours, there's been a lot of police repression and police brutality.”

Though the housing allowance was significant, Besman believed it was only a trigger for months worth of frustration with the government.

“Since the first day in office, the government has not addressed issues like living wages, corruption and accountability,” Besman said.

So far, a movement known as “17+8 Demands” has been circulating around social media. There are 25 demands split into two lists; the first consists of 17 actions that must be met by Sep. 5, 2025, while the second are eight demands by Aug. 31, 2026.

Some of the demands to be met by Friday include ending “police violence and comply with the existing SOP for crowd control” and “ensuring decent wages for all sectors of the workforce (teachers, healthcare workers, laborers, ridehailing partners)”. Those to be met in a year include “Draft a fairer Tax Reform Plan” and “Reform the police to Be Professional and Humane”.

This list is most known by the “brave pink” and the “hero green” colors used. The pink reflects the bravery of a woman named Ana, who stood up to police in a pink hijab, while the green honors Kurniawan.

Other than these demands by the public, Prabowo along with Party Chiefs announced that MP’s would be removed from their seats if they perform misconduct. However, Wira Abdina, an Indonesian citizen who works as a developer, does not believe this is the case.

“When I look at the situation, I feel they’re not looking at us as a human,” Abdina said. “They’re just looking at us as some money laundering scheme that they could use over and over again to get rich.”

Now, due to the increased police and military presence, protests have been dwindling.

“One thing for sure, it’s not over yet,” Besman said. “The protesters' demand is specific and structural on the surface, protesters are asking for the cancellation of lawmakers and it still has not been done yet.”