Prasakti Ramadhana (Dana) Fahadi, Angus Baranikow and Monica Winarnita – Various media outlets reported on how Indonesian diaspora members took part in protests against the Indonesian government that began at the end of August 2025. Protesters demanded transparency, reform and empathy, particularly from legislators who are seen as out of touch with the growing economic hardships of ordinary Indonesians.
The media described the participation of "diaspora communities across the world, including in Australia (Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Perth), the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia. Participants said their protests were "an organic movement" driven by real grievances against the Indonesian government, and a way for them to 'show their love for Indonesia' despite living beyond the territory of their tanah air (homeland).
Melbourne Bergerak's diasporic activism
Asian Studies scholar Charlotte Setijadi has estimated there are 8 to 9 million Indonesian living overseas including migrant workers. Of these, 109,170 are in Australia, many based in Melbourne, its largest city.
Early September saw 400 of these Indonesians attending the Melbourne Bergerak demonstration in Federation Square, in the heart of the city. They included working holiday visa holders as well as students, academics, and other members of the diaspora from all around the greater Melbourne area.
In fact, Melbourne Bergerak was born a year earlier, on 23 August 2024, as part of the Emergency Alert (Peringatan Darurat) movement sparked by protests against proposed changes to the election law in Indonesia. The first gathering brought around one hundred people to the University of Melbourne campus – students, alumni, workers, friends, and members of the wider Indonesian community. On 26 August, they marched to the Indonesian consulate deliver their demands.
Since then, Melbourne Bergerak hosted a variety of activities, such as Kepo (Kelas Politik, politics class), a workshop-style political discussion; Mimbar Bersama (forum discussion); and Aksi Kamisan. These meetings were not only about politics but also about finding solidarity and supporting each other. This is an example of what we call 'assertive long-distance nationalism',
However, activism is not always easy to sustain for diasporas. Organisations like the Indonesia Diaspora Network (IDN) and the Indonesian Students Association of Australia (PPIA) have found that many members have adopted what anthropologist Nina Schiller labels mere 'participation'. For a variety of reasons, some community members choose to cordially engage with the Indonesian government. This can mean lobbying them for particular policies, or even working with it to promote the government agenda. This approach obviously makes involvement in protests against government policies far less attractive.
While these kinds of low-profile engagement have been the norm for the last decade, the events of the last 12 months suggests that many diaspora members are increasingly dissatisfied with simply 'participating' and are now adopting a more assertive kind of long-distance nationalism. Diaspora members have become much more willing to advocate for change or reform to political governance, citing issues with the performance of the government and other actors who influence policy.
This broad shift is not surprising – it reflects shifting attitudes in Indonesia itself. But many within the diaspora have also grown disillusioned by how the government engages with them. They feel their voices and policy preferences fall on deaf ears.
The rise of diaspora oppositional activism
Diaspora attitudes changed dramatically on the night of 28 August. The killing of Affan Kurniawan – a 21-year old 'ojol' driver – by an armoured police car was captured in multiple viral videos. It shook many Indonesians to the core.
Affan was not even protesting. He was simply delivering food. He represented the ordinary, everyday Indonesian who worked hard to make a living. For all intents and purposes, he was doing what the government expected of him. For doing so, he was brutally killed.
This sent a chilling message to Indonesians who choose to avoid politics or work through the system: even you are not safe. Many members the diaspora felt the time for cordial engagement with the government was over – now was the time for opposition.
The day after Affan's death, members of the Melbourne Bergerak WhatsApp group felt enraged and that they had to act. Instead of returning to the consulate, they chose Federation Square as their site of protest. Pipin Jamson, an Indonesian academic who coordinates Melbourne Bergerak, believed that the symbolism mattered: just weeks before, the Indonesian community had gathered there to raise the national flag on Independence Day. Now, it became a place to declare another kind of freedom.
From 4 to 6 pm, around 20 individuals took turns giving speeches, reading poetry, and singing Darah Juang, Buruh Tani, and Bento – songs of the resistance of ordinary people against a corrupt system. One of the authors, Dana Fahadi also read the English translation of Wiji Thukul's Peringatan (Warning) after it was recited in Indonesian by playwright Faiza Mardzoeki.
One of the most powerful speeches came from Naila, a Master's student at the University of Melbourne. Dressed in a pink hijab like Bu Ana (a woman who became a symbol of defiance during Indonesian protests in August 2025 for confronting riot police in Jakarta), Naila stated: "[President] Prabowo basically accused anyone who attends protests like this of treason. Seriously, he's a worse red flag [dangerous person to be involved with] than our red flag exes. He never listens!" The crowd roared.
Voices like Naila's and other speakers in attendance are indicative of the shifting nature of long-distance nationalism amongst the diaspora in Melbourne. Speeches given during the demonstration made it very clear that diaspora members conceive their sense of nationalism as a form of love for their fellow Indonesians.
But, as Schiller says, long-distance nationalism is not something that is always encouraged by the home state.
It should come as no shock that many, like Naila, feel insulted by how the government has attempted to delegitimise their voices and protest as 'treasonous' and anti-Indonesian, a tactic that President Prabowo is no stranger to. In July for example, he claimed that the popular online trends of Indonesia Gelap (Dark Indonesia) and Kabur Aja Dulu (Just Run Away Now) had been conceived and spread by 'corruptors' and individuals who sought to keep Indonesia in a perpetual state of pessimism. He did not provide evidence to support these claims.
Manifestations of assertive long-distanced nationalism
Historically, Indonesian governments have insisted that Indonesians prioritise the national interest above their own personal interests. Indonesians are now calling on government members to prioritise the people's interests above their own.
For Indonesian diaspora communities in Melbourne, the issues raised that day cut deep: young lives lost in protests across Indonesia, the shameless wealth of legislators contrasted with the reality of the hunger and poverty of millions, the normalisation of militarism, the rise of police brutality, and diminishing freedom of speech. For the diaspora, standing at Federation Square was a way to say: we see it, we will not be silent, and we will hold the powerful to account.
The recent manifestations of assertive long-distance nationalism by Indonesia diaspora communities across the world were inevitable. While many in the diaspora have been politically passive, many have also felt disillusioned by the Indonesian government for some time.
This feeling is not just a result of growing illiberalism within Indonesia, but of how the government has chosen (not) to engage with the diaspora community. For example, calls for dual citizenship and constitutional recognition of the diaspora have been ignored. Furthermore, many are disappointed in government rhetoric that has forced the community into a position where their loyalty to Indonesia is under constant interrogation while they live abroad.
For Melbourne Bergerak, the 2 September protest was not an end but a beginning, and it continues to be active. On 27 September, for example, Melbourne Bergerak held 'A Vigil for the Disappeared': a solidarity action for Indonesian activists targeted, silenced, and forcibly disappeared under the Prabowo regime, at the State Library of Victoria.
Moreover, Melbourne Bergerak is part of the International Indonesia Bergerak Committee, which includes other Bergerak movements involving diaspora communities in Canberra, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Vancouver, the USA, Japan, Switzerland, and many more.
Our hope is that together this global network might be able to help drive international attention and pressure on Indonesia to reform itself before it is too late.
Acknowledgement: Dana Fahadi's personal story, which is part of this article, was first published in the Indonesia Council newsletter on the 20th of September 2025