Student Protests Today: 'Indonesia Bankrupt' and UNJ Melawan Actions
Several student alliances from universities in Jakarta and its surrounding areas plan to hold demonstrations on Friday, 12 June 2025. They have chosen different locations with broadly similar demands, urging the government to fix Indonesia’s struggling economy. Confirmed protests include the ‘UNJ Melawan’ (UNJ Fights Back) alliance and the ‘Aksi Indonesia Bangkrut’ (Indonesia Bankrupt Action) spearheaded by the University of Indonesia Student Executive Board.
The ‘Aksi Indonesia Bangkrut’ will take place at the Bundaran HI traffic circle in Central Jakarta. UI Student Executive Board Chair Yatalathof Ma’shum Imawan stated that all 15 UI faculty student boards will join, along with eight other campus boards and movement organisations. These include the IPB University Student Executive Board, Jakarta State Polytechnic Student Executive Board, Pancasila University Student Executive Board, Gunadarma University Student Board Alliance, the central and UI branches of the National Student Front, Pembebasan, and the UI Progressive Student Union. Participants will gather at the FISIP UI field in Depok at 10:00 WIB, wearing yellow jackets and black shirts. The action has five core demands, primarily urging President Prabowo Subianto to halt the free nutritious meals programme and the ‘Koperasi Desa Merah Putih’ village cooperative scheme. They also demand an end to state budget waste, lower prices for basic necessities and fuel, a stop to militarism in civilian spaces, and for the President to admit government mistakes. Athof stated that Indonesia is a wealthy country but its people remain impoverished, with economic growth collapsing and fiscal policies leaking, while Bank Indonesia’s independence is being seized.
The ‘UNJ Melawan’ alliance will demonstrate within the UNJ campus starting at 13:00 WIB, with a long march from Rawamangun Muka past the golf course and turning right towards Jalan Pemuda. The action will be attended by the UNJ academic community, including Sociology lecturer Ubedilah Badrun. The alliance’s demands to the government include stabilising the rupiah exchange rate, lowering staple food and fuel prices, ensuring teacher welfare, fully allocating 20 percent of the state budget to education, halting the free nutritious meals and village cooperative programmes, and returning the military to barracks. They also demand an end to the criminalisation of youth, the release of all political prisoners, a halt to the PTN-BH university legal entity scheme, the realisation of free and democratic higher education, safe educational environments free from sexual violence, and a stop to environmentally damaging national strategic projects. Demands directed at the UNJ rectorate include accelerating the stalled construction of the Saudi Fund for Development building and adjusting tuition fees to match students’ economic circumstances.