Indonesia's river of discontent runs deep

The protests rocking Indonesia are about more than housing perks or food inflation.

- Ravi Velloor

Indonesia's week-long protests that culminated in violence in Jakarta and elsewhere is the sort of nightmare that Southeast Asia's largest nation can live without.

The aftershocks have barely ended; Dr Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the respected finance minister, has had to go, falling on her own sword as the leadership looks for scapegoats for a series of mis-steps of their own doing, as well as wider forces at play.

The proximate trigger for the unrest may have been the 50 million rupiah (S$3,900) monthly housing allowance initiated for MPs (many of them owned good homes already), and mobs angered by the death of a Gojek rider struck down by a speeding police vehicle. But some would argue the problems date back longer, and even to before the current administration.

In truth, several streams fed the river of discontent that spilled out in Indonesia in September.

THE SQUEEZE

Viewed from the ground up, the most obvious is the economic squeeze.

Household budgets have shrunk. In August, the price of rice, Indonesia's most widely consumed staple, was up 6.2 per cent from a year ago. There have been significant job losses in manufacturing. The Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producer Association reckons that the country shed a quarter-million jobs in textiles and apparel industries over the past two years, and this could worsen in 2025.

An estimated 10 million of Gen Zers are looking for work. Jobs created have been largely informal or in the gig economy, with little protection. Foreign direct investment flows have started to slide.

The Indonesian middle class had started to contract even before President Prabowo Subianto came to power and in most societies, unrest usually begins with this class before it spreads.