Affan Kurniawan was killed on Thursday after an armoured police automobile bumped into him.
Revealed On 29 Aug 2025
Protests have resumed in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, after the dying of a bike taxi driver hit by a police automobile throughout an illustration over a variety of cost-of-living points.
Affan Kurniawan was killed on Thursday after an armoured police automobile bumped into him outdoors Indonesia’s Home of Representatives, as riot police have been dispersing crowds who had gathered to demand greater wages, decrease taxes and the removing of allowances for politicians.
Bike taxi drivers gathered outdoors Jakarta Cell Brigade Corps headquarters on Friday to protest in opposition to Kurniawan’s dying, and college students urged protesters to rally later outdoors police headquarters within the capital metropolis.
President Prabowo Subianto referred to as for calm, expressed condolences for the dying of Kurniawan, and ordered a radical probe of the incident.
“I’m shocked and disillusioned by the extreme actions of the officers,” Prabowo mentioned in a video message, including, “I’ve ordered a radical and clear investigation … and officers concerned should be held accountable.”
Police hearth tear fuel
As Thursday’s protest continued into the evening, native media reported that riot police fired tear fuel and used water cannon to disperse individuals.
The capital’s police chief, Asep Edi Suheri, mentioned that through the clashes, an armoured police automobile hit and killed Kurniawan, who labored for ride-sharing providers Gojek and Seize.
The motive force’s household and a bike drivers’ affiliation mentioned Kurniawan was not concerned within the protests.
“As police chief and on behalf of your complete unit, I wish to specific my deepest apologies and condolences,” he mentioned in a information convention late on Thursday.
Tens of hundreds of individuals, together with many college students and employees, have taken to the streets in Jakarta and different cities this week to show in opposition to a brand new month-to-month housing allowance for politicians price 20 instances greater than the minimal wage in some components of the nation.
The demonstrators are additionally protesting in opposition to low wages, authorities funding cutbacks and job cuts within the textile trade.
Abigail Limura, cofounder of the social media platform What Is Up, Indonesia?, instructed Al Jazeera that the protests are a “fruits of months of not solely financial but additionally political frustration all around the nation”.
“We’re in the course of a worsening economic system, collapsing job market, the place hundreds have been laid off. And as a substitute of compassion, these persons are regularly met with indifference and even typically tone-deaf and insulting responses,” she mentioned.
Usman Hamid, government director of Amnesty Worldwide Indonesia, mentioned protesters have been additionally indignant in regards to the long-running situation of police brutality and the heavy-handed response by police this week to demonstrations.
“The case of the motorcycle taxi driver is only one of so many instances of extreme use of drive by police. There are too many instances throughout Indonesia, together with West Papua,” he instructed Al Jazeera. “We’re always receiving credible reviews equivalent to use of firearms, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and in addition extrajudicial killing.”
Main protests have been staged outdoors of Jakarta’s police headquarters and legislature, whereas The Jakarta Submit reported that protesters have additionally vandalised public services and lit a number of automobiles on hearth.
