Today is Friday, January 29th, 2021.

On this day in 2001, thousands of student protesters stormed the Indonesian parliament clashing with police.

The demonstrations broke out after multiple accusations of corruption were levied against then-president Abdurakman Waheed.

Welcome to Today in True Crime, a Spotify original from Parkast.

Today we're covering the scandals and protests that led to the ousting of Indonesian President

Abdurakman Waheed. Let's go back to the streets of Jakarta on January 29, 2001.

After months of mounting tension, the Indonesian capital had erupted into chaos.

Crowds of protesters flooded the streets. Estimates placed the size of the demonstrations between 5 and 10,000,

most of them high school and university students. The police responded with riot shields and tear gas,

though these tactics did little to disperse the protesters.

They threw rocks and raced through the streets, shouting the same refrain.

Gussdur Mundur, meaning Gouscedur resign.

Guestur was the nickname for Abdurqman Wahid, the first democratically elected president of Indonesia in over 30 years.

The previous regime was rife with corruption and cronyism.

It was eventually toppled by a pro-democracy movement driven by protests such as this one.

The people hoped Gustur would be different, and in a sense he was.

Sixty-one years old and nearly blind, he was known for being unpredictable and chaotic.

The press called him a jokester and reported that he regularly fell asleep in meetings.

Although his supporters had plenty of successes to point to, after stepping into power,

he pushed for civilian control of the military and implemented term limits for the presidency.

He apologized for atrocities committed by his

predecessor's regime and removed officials that were seen as corrupt. But he also struggled to contend

...