1,000 University of Indonesia Students Join 'Towards Indonesia's Bankruptcy' Protest

The Chairman of the University of Indonesia Student Executive Board (BEM UI), Yatalathof Ma’shum Imawan, stated that 1,000 UI students will participate in the ‘Menuju Indonesia Bangkrut’ (Towards Indonesia’s Bankruptcy) protest at the Bundaran HI roundabout in Jakarta this afternoon, Friday, 12 June 2026. “The number of participants from the Depok area is around 1,000, and if combined with others, it could reach 3,000,” said Athof, as he is known, at the FISIP UI Parking Field, UI Campus, Depok. Based on Tempo’s observations, UI students began arriving at the assembly point at 08:30 WIB. A number of students prepared various protest attributes, including banners written with black and red spray paint. Some of the banners bore phrases such as “Menuju Indonesia Bangkrut”, “Gibran Raka Bullshit”, “Stop MBG”, and “Sweet 18 Rupiah ku”, among others. At the FISIP UI Parking Field, 15 buses and 10 public minivans (angkot) were also observed, ready to transport them to Bundaran HI. Athof revealed that this protest will be joined by student executive boards from other campuses, including Politeknik Negeri Jakarta, Universitas Pancasila, STT Nurul Fikri, IPB University, and others. All will move towards Bundaran HI. “Because we have realised that the economy is only growing on paper, but not changing on the people’s table. Job opportunities are increasingly narrow, all prices have risen, and taxes are still being imposed on the lower-middle class, including the poor,” said Athof. Therefore, in this protest titled ‘Menuju Indonesia Bangkrut’, the alliance demands that the government, both executive and legislative, stop programmes that waste the budget and stop making excuses and denying that the current situation is already a crisis. “In fact, in the regions it has already begun, Pertalite fuel is becoming scarce, and even electricity is starting to experience blackouts, even on Java Island, let alone outside Java Island,” said Athof. “We also consider that if conditions do not improve, then in accordance with our hashtag, ‘Menuju Indonesia Bangkrut’, we are heading for bankruptcy—economically bankrupt, democratically bankrupt, and also bankrupt in terms of the nation’s morality.” The BEM alliance will voice five demands: stop the waste of the state budget (APBN), lower the prices of staple goods and fuel, halt the MBG programme and the construction of Koperasi Desa Merah Putih, stop militarism in the civilian sphere, and for Prabowo to stop evading and acknowledge the government’s mistakes.