Indonesia gripped by another day of anti-government demonstrations
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 August 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
While the protests have been fuelled by a wide range of issues - including the death of a ride-sharing driver - one core complaint concerns a new monthly allowance for lawmakers. We'll hear from a protester and a member of the country's ruling party.
Also on the programme: China hosts leaders from Russia, India and others nations for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit; and we'll hear about 40 ancient tombs which have been unearthed by archaeologists in Iraq.
(Photo: Policemen during clashes with protesters outside the parliament building in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on 30 August 2025. Credit:MADE NAGI/EPA/Shutterstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:07.9 | We're coming to you live from London. |
| 0:10.1 | I'm Krupa Bhati and it's very good to have you with us. |
| 0:13.5 | It's been another tense day of violent anti-government protests across Indonesia. |
| 0:19.7 | Today we saw the homes of lawmakers and local council buildings ransacked and looted as anger mounts against a wide-ranging set of economic issues, |
| 0:29.0 | one of the core complaints being a new monthly allowance for lawmakers. |
| 0:33.7 | These are some of the sounds of Indonesia in recent days. |
| 0:42.7 | Thank you. These are some of the sounds of Indonesia in recent days. President Provao Subianto said some of the behaviour amounted to what he called treason and terrorism. |
| 0:50.8 | But in a concession to those who have taken to the streets, |
| 0:54.1 | he also announced that he'd cut some perks and extra pay for MPs. |
| 0:58.3 | Now, the situation has been further fuelled after footage spread of a 21-year-old motorcycle taxi driver, |
| 1:04.8 | Afan Kurnirwan, being fatally run over by a police vehicle at the site of the protest. |
| 1:10.7 | The BBC's Astu Destra Agengrasi in Jakarta, Tommy Moore. |
| 1:15.5 | The protest has built up from a month or so |
| 1:19.2 | when the Indonesian people realize that the parliament |
| 1:24.7 | get a hike for their allowance, which includes a housing allowance, |
| 1:31.2 | as much as $3,000 US dollar. |
| 1:34.3 | And that makes the total of the pay that they get, exceeding the number of $6,000, |
| 1:40.9 | about 30 times the average worker works in Indonesia. |
| 1:45.0 | And so protests started happening after people learned that fact. |
| 1:50.0 | On Monday, the huge protests erupted and 300 people were detained after the protest ended. |
| 1:57.0 | And then on Wednesday, another protest happened. |
... |
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