ewly installed Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has said the recent weeklong unrest was triggered by fiscal and monetary policy mistakes that caused the economy to underperform.
In his first hearing with the House of Representatives on Wednesday, the former head of the Indonesia Deposit Insurance Corporation vowed to “reverse the conditions,” which he said led to the nationwide protests.
“The protests you went through the other day were caused by prolonged pressure on the economy, stemming from mistakes in our fiscal and monetary policies [that we actually control],” said Purbaya, who has held the position since Monday, addressing House Commission XI, which oversees financial affairs.
“My question is, Commission XI and the [former] finance minister held meetings hundreds of meetings in a year, why did you not question that? […] It should have been resolved long ago,” he added.
The hearing took place less than two weeks after the country was gripped by widespread protests that escalated into rioting and looting after police killed ojol (motorcycle transportation driver) Affan Kurniawan.
Many observers said the protests were driven primarily by economic grievances, not merely by lawmakers’ salary increases or the death of Affan. Economists argue that the root cause of this problem lies in the growing public dissatisfaction stemming from fragile social and economic conditions.
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Following the protests, President Prabowo Subianto reshuffled his cabinet and appointed Purbaya as finance minister, replacing the long-serving Sri Mulyani Indrawati, whose house was ransacked during the riots.