Student protesters say that as many as 24 bus drivers were threatened and intimidated so they would not transport University of Indonesia Student Executive Council (BEM UI) protesters to the Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle in Central Jakarta on Tuesday August 18.
"They were ordered to make up a thousand excuses so they couldn't pick us up. And it was not just BEM UI, it was other comrades as well you know", said Reclaim Independence (#MerebutKemerdekaan) action field coordinator Hafidz Haernanda at the UI Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) on Tuesday.
Haernanda said that the Kopaja bus drivers suddenly and unilaterally cancelled their booking after being intimidated by phone calls from certain parties.
He said that they do not blame the drivers. According to Haernanda there was a party that tried to silence them. "We don't blame the drivers because right they are living in a system that results in them having to work like this, that's how it is", he said.
The students later accused the Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) of being behind the intimidation. "First, today we learned that these Kopaja [drivers] received intimidation through a letter, reportedly from the Ministry", said Dimas, the head of the UI Faculty of Law (FH) BEM.
When asked which ministry he was referring to, Dimas mentioned the Ministry of Transportation, although he emphasised that his team did not yet know the exact reason for the cancellation.
"The Ministry of Transportation. Maybe this can be confirmed, but we don't know for sure. What's certain is that all the Kopaja buses were suddenly cancelled, and we don't know why. If there's news like that, please confirm it with the Ministry of Transportation to issue a statement, or perhaps the Kopaja drivers can issue an official statement", he said.
Dimas said however that the alleged intimidation did not deter the students from continuing to express their aspirations and the students eventually used public transportation to travel from the UI campus in Depok to Central Jakarta.
Prior to this, hundreds of protesters gathered the grounds of the FISIP before departing from the Depok UI campus at around 11 am, and were planning to arrive at the HI traffic circle at 1 pm. The students were seen preparing posters and banners criticising the government.
Haernanda said that around 500 to 700 UI students would take to the streets to express their aspirations and criticisms of the government. "So, for the UI students themselves, there are around 500 to 700 people", Haernnda told reporters.
Momentum of H+1
The student demonstration was held the day after Indonesia celebrated its 81st anniversary of independence.
BEM UI Deputy Chairperson Fathimah Azzahra explained that the momentum of H+1 Independence Day was chosen to reflect on whether all levels of society have truly experienced the real essence of independence.
"Independence doesn't mean we all have to be incredibly rich or incredibly impressive; that's not what the people want to define as independence. They simply want to live a decent life as human beings who are treated with dignity and can live a just life", said Azzahra.
She highlighted the irony of the lives of the lower classes, who must work hard, but whose hard work continues to erode while the elite reap the benefits. This situation is considered to have triggered deep wounds in the hearts of the ordinary people, resembling practices of slavery or colonialism in the past.
"When we see them struggling to survive, but instead we see others taking advantage of what should be theirs, that's a painful thing", she said.
According to Azzahra, the feeling of oppression experienced by the people today is the fundamental reason behind the narrative that people feel colonised by their own government.
"That's what colonialism is like. People who truly work hard only receive minimal wages, while the results are taken by those who benefit from that hard work", said Azzahra.
"There's a shared sense of pain in the hearts of the people that will never be resolved if their rights are never granted. This is what we want to commemorate on this moment of independence", she continued.
Intercepted by police
Upon arriving near Indonesian National Bank (BNI) Building on Jalan Jenderal Sudirman at around 2 pm, the students were intercepted by police and prohibited from continuing to the HI traffic circle.
According to Kompas.com monitoring at the location, the protesters who had arrived on public transport were stopped and instructed not to use the buses to try and reach the HI. The buses transporting the protesters were advised to park their vehicles.
The protesters then disembarked from the buses, lined up, and marched toward the HI traffic circle on food under the tight security of police.
However, the crowd stopped again when they arrived in front of the UOB Building on Jalan MH Thamrin where they were confronted by a barricade erected by police.
Facing tight security, the BEM UI representatives immediately attempted to negotiate with police. Azzahra and several other students became engaged in a heated argument with Central Jakarta Metro Police Chief Senior Commissioner Reynold Elisa Partomuan Hutagalung.
The students stated that they wanted to proceed and hold the demonstration at the HI. The police however refused citing concerns about disrupting public order.
Amidst the ongoing negotiations between the protest leaders and the authorities, other UI students appeared following on foot chanting "Long Live the Students!" while unfurling banners.
Thousands of security personnel remained on standby to monitor the movement of the crowd, who were stuck around Jalan Jenderal Sudirman, while BEM UI members gave speeches and continued to seek permission to protest at HI.
Meanwhile, traffic on Jalan Jenderal Sudirman and MH Thamrin heading towards HI was temporarily closed, although Transjakarta buses were still able to pass through.
Dimas said this situation is a reason for students to urge the public not to be afraid to express their aspirations.
"So how do we mitigate this? This movement isn't just a student movement, it's a movement of the people. This means that going forward, we hope the people won't be afraid to take to the streets", Dimas said.
"Perhaps we need to sacrifice a little of our current comfort and sense of security, so that in the future we can have a truly genuine sense of comfort and security", he added.
Scuffle with police
At around 2.10 pm students from UI were involved in a scuffle with police in front of the UOB Building. The students tried forced their way onto the road to the HI traffic circle while police continued to block the road by forming a barricade.
As of 4.19 pm the students continued to hold their ground in front of the UOB Building while negotiations between the protesters and police were still ongoing.
Hafidz Haernanda said they would continue to hold their ground until they were granted access to continue their demonstration. "We will continue (to hold our ground). We are cantered here", he told Kompas.com on Tuesday afternoon.
When asked whether the crowd would remain in place until the evening and whether they were prepared for possible clashes with authorities, Haernanda said that they did not want any bloodshed. "Whatever the risk. But if there were bloodshed, of course not", he said.
Students disband voluntarily
At around 6 pm however, when the official time limit for public protests had passed, the students dispersed peacefully According to Kompas.com's monitoring at the scene, the hundreds of students dispersed after receiving no confirmation that they could continue their demonstration at the HI.
Although the students had dispersed, traffic flow in the area remained blocked as of 6.20 pm as some of the protesters remained in the area.
As they dispersed, students could be heard loudly chanting slogans critical of the administration of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka. "Prabowo-Gibran are American puppets", the protesters chanted as they formed a line.
Meanwhile, police had not yet reopened traffic on Jalan Jenderal Sudirman from Semanggi toward HI as they were waiting for the road to be completely cleared of protesters, who were still in the process of leaving Jalan Jenderal Sudirman.
Police arrest 21
Earlier, Jakarta Metropolitan Police public relations head Budi Hermanto said that police had detained 21 people while securing the Jakarta demonstration.
Police said they were detained after being found carrying potentially dangerous items including firecrackers, flares and bottles suspected of being used for Molotov cocktails.
"They are currently being questioned at the Jakarta Metropolitan Police's Criminal Investigation Directorate Hermanto told the media on Tuesday, adding that police were still investigating the origin and connections of the 21 people to the student demonstration.
He suspects that they had the potential to trigger conflict between officers and the protesters. "The goal was to create conflict between security officers and participants expressing their opinions in public", Hermanto explained.
Namoradiarta Siahaan, a student representative from UI, said that the people detained by police ahead of the demonstration at the HI traffic circle were not UI students.
"We received information, as far as I know, that there was one person who lives in South Jakarta. Civilians who wanted to join the demonstration were immediately intercepted [by the police]", Siahaan said at the location on Tuesday.
According to Siahaan, non-students who attempted to join the demonstration were instead detained and asked to separate from the crowd. "We don't know. Perhaps we feel that this is a direct scheme by the state to try to separate the student movement from the civil society movement", he said.
Eight demands
The students brought at least eight demands to the demonstration. One of them was a request for the government to stop what they called a form of state colonialism against the people.
"The first is to stop the state's colonisation of the people. Because we feel that, unfortunately, after we were colonised by the Dutch, the Japanese, and so on, we now feel like we are still being colonised by the government", said Haernanda.
The students also urged the government to immediately lower the prices of basic commodities and fuel. In addition to economic issues, the students highlighted the concentration of power.
The students asked the government to stop the concentration of power, stop cutting regional financial transfers (TKD) and grant the broadest possible autonomy to the regions.
Haernanda said that they are of the view that the Prabowo administration has potential to lead to a concentration of power. "We feel, especially from BEM UI, which has a thesis, that Prabowo currently wants to be like [former president] Suharto, but in a broader sense", he said.
The students also voiced demands regarding the revisions of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police (Polri) Laws and called for a comprehensive evaluation of all state civil servants (ASN).
They also demanded that the government stop the TNI and Polri's interference in civilian spaces and rejected the planned establishment of new territorial battalions in various regions.
According to Haernanda, strengthening the military in the regions is not the primary need of the people at this time. "What this country needs is prosperity", he said.
He cited several community needs as examples, ranging from meeting children's nutritional needs, education, stationery and mental health. He also touched on cases of children experiencing mental health issues and even committing suicide in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) following the recent magnitude 7 earthquake.
During the demonstration, the students also urged the government to declare a national disaster for NTT and Flores. "Our final demand is for the government to declare a national disaster in NTT and Flores", he asserted.
According to Haernanda this is of particular concern highlighting the President's speech on Independence Day, which he said failed to address the conditions in NTT and Flores. "This is very sad. Imagine, a national leader giving a speech on Independence Day completely disregarding his people", he said.
[Abridged translation by James Balowski based on a series of articles by Kompas.com on August 18. The original title of the lead article was "24 Sopir Bus Disebut Diintimidasi agar Tak Angkut Massa BEM UI Demo di Bundaran HI".]