Muhammad Isa Bustomi, Jakarta – A number of protest actions marking two years of the administration of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka were held in Jakarta on Tuesday October 20.
Students and civil society activists held demonstrations in the Heroes Statue Monument or Farmers Monument area in Menteng, Central Jakarta, and on Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan in Gambir, also in Central Jakarta.
This actions were marked by various forms of protest, ranging from raising three fingers, carrying bamboo coffins to trying to break through roadblocks leading to the State Palace.
Three fingers symbol of resistance
An alliance of students and civil society who are members of the Sadar Committee (Call for People's Sovereignty, Seruan Kedaulatan Rakyat) started their action in the Farmers Monument area at around 3.20 pm.
The protesters filled the grounds of the Farmers Monument where they formed a semi-circular line while a number of representatives took turns delivering speeches.
The University of Indonesia Student Executive Board (BEM UI) were also present at the action. The students did not appear to be wearing their campus alma mater jackets.
In a speech, BEM UI Social and Political Coordinator Hafidz Hernanda instructed the action participants to raise three fingers as a form of protest.
"These three fingers are a symbol of our anger and disappointment, a symbol of society's opposition to failed leaders!", Hernanda exclaimed.
The crowd also unfurled a number of banners and posters criticising the government.
One of the banners read, "Stop the Military's Role in the MBG, KDMP, PKH Task Force, PT Agrinas & other strategic projects", referring to the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) and Red and White Cooperatives (KDMP) programs, the Forest Area Enforcement Task Force (Satgas PKH) and PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara, a state-owned company managed by the Danantara sovereign wealth fund.
Meanwhile, another poster contained the message "My dreams are not grandiose: I can breathe a sigh of relief, my forests are protected".
Humanity coffin
At a different location, the protesters from Jayabaya University arrived at Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan directly in front of the BSI Tower Building and the National Monument in Central Jakarta at around 4.30 pm.
The protesters, wearing orange and grey alma mater jackets, arrived on public transportation (angkot) and motorbikes from the direction of the Farmers Monument. They were led by a command vehicle.
Apart from carrying banners and protest materials, the students brought a green bamboo coffin with the words "Humanity" written on it.
"Today we bring souvenirs for the Prabowo-Gibran administration", said one of the action participants from the command vehicle.
This action caused partial access to Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan to be completely closed. Vehicles from the direction of the Horse Statue were temporarily unable to pass through the road.
Meanwhile, vehicles from the direction of the Farmers Monument were still able to pass through Jalan Medan Merdeka, but could only turn onto Jalan H. Agus Salim and could not continue their journey towards the Horse Statue.
Protesters try to break through barriers
Tension occurred when a Jayabaya University students tried to break through the roadblock or barrier to reach the nearby State Palace.
Based on monitoring by Kompas.com, the crowd suddenly rushed towards the barriers while calling for reform.
"Reform, reform, reform", shouted the protesters.
They then pushed, kicked and hit the concrete barrier. The barrier was wobbly and tilted due to the crowd continuing to push on it.
Gambir Metropolitan Sectoral Police Chief (Kapolsek) Assistant Superintendent Agus Ady Wijaya together with a number of police officers on guard immediately approached the students who were trying to break through the barricades.
"Be patient, mas [brothers]. Please calm down, sorry", Wijaya said to the protesters.
The tension continued when the crowd set fire to the bamboo coffins they were carrying. The attempt to burn the coffin ended in a squabble after a number of police officers approached the location.
When the quarrel was going on, the police sprayed a light fire extinguisher (APAR) filled with foam towards the crowd.
Banner installed on Farmers Monument
Meanwhile, in the Farmers Monument area, a number of students climbed the Heroes Statue to unfurl banners with their demands on Tuesday evening.
Based on monitoring by Kompas.com, the statue climbing action started at around 6 pm. Some five people worked together so that two of them could climb to the top of the statue.
After successfully climbing the statue, the crowd from below threw banners and ropes so they could be unfurled. One of the participants then climbed the body of the female farmer statue to tie the banner.
The successful display of the banner was greeted with loud cheers and applause from the crowd.
"Revolution! Revolution! Revolution!", shouted the crowd from below.
The crowd also sang the songs Farm Labourers (Buruh Tani) and Blood of Struggle (Darah Juang) together.
The banner contained five main demands, the first being demanding that the government declare the forest and land fires (karhutla) and floods as national disasters.
The second demand was to guarantee and restore the health of citizens as well as prosecute and revoke the permits of corporations responsible for the crisis.
Third, improve economic policy governance and restore market confidence, and ending restrictions on freedom of expression.
Fourth, eradicate the practices of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) and fifth, reduce the costs of education, healthcare and public services while providing equal access for all people.
Student representatives then read a statement on the state of the nation which was considered to have been hit by multiple crisis and disaster.
They emphasised that today's action was not the end of the struggle and said they planned to hold a larger demonstration again on the anniversary of Youth Pledge Day (Hari Sumpah Pemuda) on October 28.
"We declare, today will not be the end of the struggle. We will return with a greater escalation on October 28, we guarantee that we will double the numbers", shouted one of the representatives.
At around 8.35 pm after the statement was read out and the crowd was about to disperse, police officers arrived and took down the banner.
The crowd jeered at the police, but there was no further commotion. They then dispersed from the location of the action.
Reporters: Ridho Danu Prasetyo and Omarali Dharmakrisna Soedirman
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Serba-serbi Demo 2 Tahun Prabowo-Gibran di Jakarta: Simbol Tiga Jari hingga Keranda Dibakar".]