{"id":109936,"date":"2025-08-31T14:56:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T14:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/109936\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T14:56:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T14:56:10","slug":"indonesian-politicians-to-have-perks-cut-in-bid-to-quell-unrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/109936\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesian politicians to have perks cut in bid to quell unrest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Indonesian political parties have agreed to reverse some state-funded perks their politicians receive in a bid to quell nationwide protests, the country’s president has said. <\/p>\n

Several cities in the southern Asian nation including the capital, Jakarta, have been gripped by anti-government demonstrations in the past week that have at times led to clashes between protesters and police.<\/p>\n

While the protests have been fuelled by a wide range of issues – including the death of a ride-sharing driver – one core complaint concerns a new monthly allowance for lawmakers.<\/p>\n

President Prabowo Subianto announced on Sunday that several perks would be reigned in, including the size of some allowances.<\/p>\n

The Indonesian leader – who has already had to cancel a trip to China over the unrest – said some demonstrations had gone beyond what was considered peaceful and may amount to “treason and terrorism”.<\/p>\n

He added that he had ordered the police and armed forces to take strong action against looting and property damage. <\/p>\n

The home of Indonesia’s finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati was among several targeted by looters on Sunday, news agency AFP reports.<\/p>\n

The protests have primarily centred on an increase of 50 million rupiah ($3,030; \u00a32,250) in parliamentarians’ allowances – almost 10 times the minimum wage in Jakarta.<\/p>\n

But they escalated after Affan Kurniawan, a 21-year-old ride-sharing driver, was run over by a police vehicle during a demonstration in the capital on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Three people were killed after protesters set fire to a regional parliament building on Friday evening. <\/p>\n

Over the weekend, protests continued, with police in central Jakarta firing tear gas to disperse crowds on the streets, while some demonstrators throwing Molotov cocktails and firecrackers at a police compound.<\/p>\n

\"ReutersReuters<\/p>\n

President Prabowo Subianto said some demonstrations may have amounted to “treason and terrorism”<\/p>\n

Prabowo did not specify which lawmakers would have their allowances curtailed, but said a moratorium on overseas trips would also be imposed.<\/p>\n

However, the concessions to the protesters may not quell the widespread dissent.<\/p>\n

Muzammil Ihsan, head of the All Indonesian Students’ Executives Body, the country’s largest student group, told Reuters that the move was “not enough” and that further demonstrations were being considered.<\/p>\n

“The government must resolve deep-rooted problems,” he said. “The anger on the streets is not without cause.”<\/p>\n

Protesters have demanded higher wages, lower taxes, stronger anti-corruption measures, and have expressed objections to the heavy-handed way police have responded to some of the demonstrations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Images Indonesian political parties have agreed to reverse some state-funded perks their politicians receive in a bid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-109936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}