Students take to streets across Indonesia as Prabowo marks two years in office

Hundreds of students have taken to the streets across Indonesia to mark the second anniversary of President Prabowo Subianto’s administration, protesting against rising living costs and the government’s handling of devastating forest fires.

Demonstrations were reported in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Bandung, with further rallies in Pekanbaru and Makassar. In Jakarta, hundreds of university students gathered near the Tugu Tani monument, urging the government to declare the forest and peatland fires a national disaster and take legal action against companies blamed for environmental damage.

Their demands extended beyond the environmental emergency, calling for measures to reduce living costs, make education and healthcare more affordable, combat corruption and protect freedom of expression.

Authorities deployed more than 9,000 security personnel in Jakarta ahead of the rallies, according to Reuters. Clashes broke out near the regional legislative council building in Yogyakarta, where police detained several protesters. Russian broadcaster RT reported that protesters set a police truck on fire during the unrest.

The fires, raging across Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua amid an unusually severe El Nino-driven dry season, have blanketed communities in toxic haze, disrupted flights, forced school closures and spread across borders into neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.

Presidential Chief of Staff Listyo Sigit Prabowo said the president had chaired a limited meeting at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Monday to discuss accelerating the fire response.