JAKARTA/GENEVA: Thou­sands rallied across Indonesia on Monday as the military was deployed in the capital after six people were killed in nationwide protests sparked by anger over lavish perks for lawmakers.

At least 500 protesters gathered outside the nation’s parliament in Jakarta, watched by soldiers and police throughout the day, before dissipating after President Prabowo Subianto warned protests should end by sundown. But elsewhere protests were more volatile.

In Gorontalo city on Sulawesi island protesters clashed with police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon, according to a journalist. In Bandung on the main island Java, protesters hurled Molotov cocktails and firecrackers at the provincial council building.

Thousands more rallied in Palembang on Sumatra island and hundreds gathered separately in Banjarmasin on Borneo island, Yogyakarta on the main island of Java and Makassar on Sulawesi, according to journalists around the country.

UN urges investigation over use of force

“Our main goal is to reform the parliament,” protester and university student Nafta Keisya Kemalia, 20, said outside parliament before the protest ended. “Do they want to wait until we have a martial law?” The deadly protests, which began last week over MP housing allowances nearly 10 times the minimum wage in Jakarta, have forced President Prabowo Subianto and parliament leaders to make a U-turn over the perks.

Demonstrations began peacefully, but turned violent against the nation’s elite paramilitary police unit after footage showed one of its teams running over 21-year-old delivery driver Affan Kurniawan late Thursday.

Protests have since spread from Jakarta to other major cities, in the worst unrest since Prabowo took power less than a year ago. Police set up checkpoints across the capital on Monday, while officers and the military conducted city-wide patrols and deployed snipers in key locations, while the usually traffic-clogged streets were quieter than usual. At least one group, the Alliance of Indonesian Women, said it had cancelled its planned protest because of heightened security.

Schools and universities in Jakarta were holding classes online until at least Tuesday, and civil servants based in the city were asked to work from home.

On Monday Prabowo paid a visit to injured police at a hospital where he criticised protesters. “The law states that if you want to demonstrate, you must ask for permission, and permission must be granted, and it must end at 6:00 pm,” he said.

UN urges probe

The United Nations on Monday called for investigations into alleged use of disproportionate force after six people were killed in protests across Indonesia sparked by anger over lawmakers’ lavish perks.

“We are following closely the spate of violence in Indonesia in the context of nationwide protests over parliamentary allowances, austerity measures, and alleged use of unnecessary or disproportionate force by security forces,” said UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani.

“We stress the importance of dialogue to address the public’s concerns,” she said in a statement.

The UN rights office is calling for prompt, thorough and transparent investigations into “all alleged violations of international human rights law, including with respect to use of force”, she said.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2025