Deadly Protests Against Government Corruption Erupt in Indonesia

A police officer stands with a megaphone as the building of the West Nusa Tenggara Provincial Council office burns after being set on fire by protesters in Mataram on Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara, on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (PC: Sadim/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

Affan Kurniawan, a 21-year-old delivery driver, was attempting to deliver an order in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Aug. 28 when he was caught in a sea of protesters, The New York Times reported.

Multiple videos taken by witnesses quickly spread the uncensored, harrowing scene across the internet. An armored police vehicle rushed towards the crowd of protesters, most narrowly escaping its straight path.

Kurniawan, easily spotted in videos due to his bright green uniform jacket, appears to stumble under the intensity of the situation, and the armored vehicle knocks him over. Protesters rush towards the vehicle and bang on the windows in an attempt to alert those inside. The driver continued forward, purposefully running him over. The BBC communicated that Kurniawan succumbed to his injuries shortly after.

The protests that led to Kurniawan’s death were sparked on Aug. 25 when news spread that 10 days earlier, all 580 members of the House of Representatives would be getting a 50 million rupiah (about $3,000 USD) monthly housing budget on top of their salaries, according to PBS.

Along with the generous bonuses allotted to the members of the House of Representatives, Human Rights Watch revealed that President Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo cut funding to the health and education sectors.

A combined resentment for the incredible greed displayed by politicians, as well as increasing pressure on the average citizen in terms of the cost of living, protesters gathered to use their right of free speech to voice their frustration.

In response to the mass of voices speaking out, Human Rights Watch detailed that more than 3,000 were arrested by authorities since the start of the protests. They stated that at least 10 people lost their lives, with 20 people currently missing and hundreds more injured.

Human Rights Watch noted that the seven officers inside the armored truck that mangled Kurniawan were arrested. The highest-ranking passenger, not the driver of the vehicle, was terminated. The five other passengers, as well as the driver, face only internal demotions and no legal repercussions at this time.

“The increasing number of deaths from the crackdown on protests in Jakarta and other regions in Indonesia is alarming,” said Montse Ferrer, the deputy regional director of research at Amnesty International. “Nobody should die while exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”

Human Rights Watch called for an investigation into the reported use of excessive force, such as the misuse of tear gas on peaceful protesters. A paramedic on the scene caring for injured protesters told them that he had witnessed “two young men, probably school students, being beaten inside a police truck.”

As protests quickly spread throughout Indonesia, an increase in violent methods of spreading the message followed. The New York Times reported that three government employees jumped from the third floor to their deaths attempting to escape a fire set by protesters that engulfed a regional Parliament building in the city of Makassar.

Through PBS’s reportage of President Prabowo’s news conference, he said, “he will not retreat even a step” when it comes to holding rioters accountable for the spread of violence and unrest. He called some of the protesters’ actions “unlawful acts, even leading to treason and terrorism.” He also said that the recent bonuses given to House of Representatives members would be cancelled, along with some other luxurious benefits.

Prabowo is only the eighth president in the country’s history. Just a little under 30 years ago, the nation was freed from the violent dictatorship of Suharto that held power for 32 years. The New York Times states that Prabowo, among being a former general, took part “in the abduction and torture of pro-democracy activists under the rule of the dictator Suharto, who was his father-in-law.”

As protests persist, the story intensifies, resulting in heightened unrest and uncertainty about the future of Indonesia.