Weekend Melawan Urges Prabowo to Evaluate BoP and ART
The crowd at the Weekend Melawan protest began to flood the area in front of the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Friday, 6 March 2026. They voiced demands for the House of Representatives (DPR) and the government to evaluate a wide range of policies and trade agreements with the United States. Based on Tempo’s observations at the scene, the crowd arrived at around 14:47 Western Indonesian Time. The attendees displayed a variety of posters bearing critical messages and Palestinian flags as speakers prepared to present the action’s demands.
“Oppose a new imperialism, cancel the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) and Indonesia’s participation in the Board of Peace,” said one speaker from the convoy vehicle on Friday, 6 March 2026.
Imparsial researcher Wira Dika Orizha Piliang, who attended the protest, said President Prabowo Subianto’s stance on US foreign policy shows subservience, for example in tariff impositions and negotiations that clearly disadvantage Indonesia.
The peak of the argument, he stated, is that rather than rejecting a biased agreement, Prabowo followed the wishes of US President Donald Trump, including signing ART, joining the BoP, and approving the deployment of Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) personnel to the ISF mission.
“The Prabowo-Gibran administration has openly demonstrated its true character as a puppet of US imperialism,” said Wira at the Weekend Melawan site on Friday.
He argued that Prabowo’s actions are not in line with his various statements about national sovereignty and the stigma of foreign puppets attached to civil society movements.
“In reality, the government is acting as a puppet of US imperialism,” he added.
Wira explained that, during today’s Weekend Melawan demonstration, the civil society coalition articulated several demands. First, a rejection of the Indonesia–US trade agreement as detrimental. Second, urging the DPR and government to evaluate all trade agreements between Indonesia and the US that are lopsided or unfair. Third, the DPR and government must evaluate Indonesia’s participation in BoP. “The reason is that BoP is not mandated by UN Security Council Resolution No. 2803,” said Wira.
The coalition also opposes plans to deploy TNI soldiers to Gaza, Palestine within the ISF mission. The government and DPR should instead realise genuine agrarian reform and the development of a national industry for the sovereignty of the Indonesian people against imperialism and feudalism.
Fostering a unity of anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, and anti-fascist people; and uniting Indonesia’s democratic and national struggles with the world’s oppressed people’s struggle in the spirit of international solidarity.
The decision to join BoP was made by Prabowo during his attendance at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Thursday, 22 January. In the presence of US President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Prabowo affixed his signature on BoP’s charter as a sign of agreement to join the forum founded by the United States, a close ally of Israel. BoP claims it will address conflicts in various parts of the world, including Gaza, Palestine.
Editor’s pick: Nusron: Prabowo Still Seeks to Persist Through the Board of Peace