Batam Students Stage Protest at DPRD, Submit '45 Demands' to Local Government

The Batam City Student Alliance staged a protest in front of the Batam City Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) and the Mayor’s office on Thursday (18/6). During the action, the students presented ‘45 Demands’ covering a number of national and local issues, and handed over a document of aspirations to the local government. The protest, involving dozens of students, was conducted under the supervision of security forces. Representatives of the demonstrators were later received by DPRD leaders for an audience in the multipurpose room, where they directly submitted their list of demands. Kelvin Manurung, General Coordinator of the Batam City Student Alliance, stated that the ‘45 Demands’ encompass four national issues and five local issues deemed urgent for government follow-up. At the national level, the students urged the government and the House of Representatives to immediately pass the Asset Forfeiture Bill. They also called for an evaluation of the State Budget management policy, a review of the fuel price increase, and improvements to the governance of the Free Nutritious Meal programme. The students clarified they do not reject the meal programme itself, but stressed the importance of evaluating its implementation to ensure distribution is better targeted and does not cause problems on the ground. On local issues, the demonstrators highlighted five main problems in Batam: environmental damage, protection of local workers, waste management, flooding, and the clean water crisis that remains a public grievance. Student representative Azhari asserted that the clean water crisis is the most urgent issue that must be immediately resolved by the local government together with the Batam Concession Agency (BP Batam). He noted a disparity between the rapid pace of development and investment in Batam and the poor basic services for the community, especially clean water. ‘Clean water is a basic need. The community should not still be experiencing difficulties obtaining this service amidst ongoing development,’ Azhari said. The students have given the Batam City Government and BP Batam a six-month deadline to comprehensively resolve the water distribution problems from upstream to downstream. If no significant improvement is seen within that period, the Batam City Student Alliance declared it is ready to hold another protest with greater escalation, including the possibility of a vote of no confidence against the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Batam. ‘If there is no real change, we will return to the streets with firmer demands,’ he stated.