分类： politics

On Friday, hundreds of university and college students flooded the streets of Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, to voice fierce opposition to the policies of newly inaugurated President Prabowo Subianto, warning that unbridled wasteful state spending could push the nation into bankruptcy. The demonstration, which escalated into minor scuffles with police, is the most prominent display of public discontent since violent anti-government protests rocked the country last August, and it comes as growing frustration over perceived state mismanagement simmers across the archipelago.

Protesters laid out three core demands: an immediate end to what they call reckless public expenditure, a full scrapping of Prabowo’s signature free school and community meals program, and a reversal of the recent steep fuel price hike that has strained household budgets. The free meals initiative, which was the centerpiece of Prabowo’s successful 2024 presidential campaign, has been plagued by controversy in recent months: multiple mass food poisoning incidents have sickened hundreds of recipients, while widespread allegations of graft have eroded public trust in the program. Just last week, Prabowo dismissed the head of the government agency tasked with overseeing the $28 billion annual initiative in response to the growing scandal.

Earlier this week, state-owned energy giant Pertamina announced it would raise prices for the widely used Pertamax fuel grades by more than 30%, a move that immediately sparked public outcry. The price hike came after years of government-regulated fuel price stability, but ballooning budget pressures from large-scale flagship programs like free meals left the government with little choice, according to insiders. Students argue the increase disproportionately hits the middle class and working poor, already grappling with rising cost of living across the country.

During the march toward the iconic Hotel Indonesia roundabout, a historic site for political demonstrations in Jakarta, students clashed with riot police deployed to block their path. Footage from BBC Indonesian shows participants attempting to push through police barricades, with some throwing objects at officers, though no injuries have been reported in the immediate aftermath of the protest. Speaking to reporters on the scene, student protester Zaki questioned the government’s commitment to constitutional protections for peaceful assembly.

“Fuel prices are going up, and our lives are getting harder,” Zaki shouted to officers. “Why are you afraid of student voices? The constitution guarantees our right to demonstrate, but that guarantee means nothing today.” Another student, Rina, emphasized that public calls to end the troubled free meals program have been repeatedly sidelined by the administration. “This program was unclear from the start,” she said. “We’ve had mass poisonings, we’ve had corruption exposed, and the government still refuses to listen to people’s demands to shut it down.”

Government officials have defended the free meals initiative, framing it as a long-term investment in Indonesia’s future designed to address chronic child malnutrition, improve educational performance, and boost domestic economic activity. But critics argue that poor planning and a lack of transparency have turned the high-cost program into a drain on public finances. Adding to the nation’s economic woes, the Indonesian rupiah has recently slid to new record lows against major global currencies, further stoking public anxiety over the state of the economy.

Protesters have organized their movement online under the hashtag #MenujuIndonesiaBangkrut, which translates to “Towards Bankrupt Indonesia”, drawing thousands of additional comments and expressions of support from social media users across the country. Friday’s protest is the largest outbreak of public discontent since August 2025, when the death of a motorcycle delivery rider triggered widespread anger over elitist governance and alleged systemic mismanagement, leading to violent demonstrations that left multiple people dead. Analysts note that the latest rally signals growing public frustration with the Prabowo administration just months into its term, as economic pressures and policy controversies continue to mount.

Thailand’s Royal Household has confirmed the passing of Princess Bajrakitiyabha, the eldest daughter of King Vajiralongkorn, at the age of 47. The announcement marks the end of a three-and-a-half-year medical battle for the princess, who fell into a coma in late 2022 after collapsing during a routine outing to exercise her pet dogs.

Widely regarded as one of the most high-achieving and publicly active members of the Thai royal family, Princess Bajrakitiyabha built a distinguished public career beyond ceremonial duties. A trained lawyer by profession, she served as Thailand’s ambassador to Austria, and spent years advocating for meaningful reforms to Thailand’s national criminal justice system, drawing on her legal expertise to push for greater fairness and transparency. She also represented Thailand on global stages, including a 2009 appearance at the United Nations Human Rights Council session in Geneva.

Throughout her public life, the princess maintained a close relationship with her father, 73-year-old King Vajiralongkorn. At the time of her death, the Thai monarch had not officially named an heir to the throne, and political analysts widely viewed Princess Bajrakitiyabha as a likely key figure in the future royal succession, given her proven public profile and proximity to the king.

In the wake of the announcement, mourners have gathered outside Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn Hospital, where the princess had received ongoing medical care since her collapse, to pay their respects. Photos from the scene show members of the public holding portraits of the princess and sharing grief over her early passing.

Prior to her health crisis, Princess Bajrakitiyabha was a familiar presence at national public events, from joining royal processions through Bangkok alongside the king and Queen Suthida to leading community activities honoring senior members of the royal family, including a 2015 cycling event held to tribute her grandfather, the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Amid growing economic strain that has squeezed household budgets across Southeast Asia’s largest democracy, hundreds of university students took to the streets of Indonesia’s capital Jakarta on Friday to deliver a clear message to the administration of President Prabowo Subianto: rein in soaring prices and roll back costly, controversial public spending programs.

Organized by a national student coalition, the demonstration drew roughly 1,500 participants, most clad in their institutions’ signature yellow university jackets, who gathered following weekly Friday prayers with plans to march to the iconic Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, a historic gathering point for public demonstrations in central Jakarta. Security forces, however, moved quickly to impede the group’s progress, blocking key arterial routes leading to the Indonesian presidential palace — the traditional end point for most major Jakarta protests — and diverting crowds away from central government hubs. In total, more than 6,000 combined police and military personnel were deployed across the capital to manage the demonstration.

Protesters anchored their grievances in the rapidly rising cost of living, a crisis they trace largely to global oil price shocks triggered by the U.S.-Iran conflict that has driven up domestic fuel prices across Indonesia. Compounding these economic pressures, the Indonesian rupiah has faced severe downward pressure on global currency markets, hitting an all-time low of 18,000 rupiah to the U.S. dollar earlier this month, further inflating prices for imported goods and basic necessities.

The rally organizers laid out five core demands for the Prabowo administration, starting with immediate cuts to what they label wasteful and excessive state spending. Top of their list for rollback are two flagship government programs: a widely publicized free nutritious meal initiative and a national rural revitalization scheme. The free meals program, which carries an annual price tag of 268 trillion rupiah (equivalent to roughly $15 billion) for 2024 alone, was originally designed to tackle widespread poverty and childhood malnutrition. But the initiative has been plunged into scandal in recent weeks, after Prabowo dismissed the program’s national director amid a sweeping high-level corruption investigation that has already resulted in multiple arrests of senior nutrition agency officials.

Beyond economic demands, protest leaders also called for an end to what they describe as the expanding role of the military in civilian governance — a shift they warn poses a direct threat to Indonesia’s young democratic institutions, which only transitioned away from authoritarian rule in 1998.

Yatalathof Ma’shum Imawan, chair of the student organization that coordinated the Jakarta rally, accused the Prabowo administration of refusing to confront the severity of the country’s ongoing economic crisis. “The government is in denial about the current situation,” Imawan told reporters on site. “We urge Prabowo to have the courage to acknowledge his mistake and stop denying it.”

Friday’s protest is one of the largest coordinated student mobilizations the country has seen since major nationwide demonstrations erupted last August. That wave of unrest saw thousands of Indonesians take to streets across the archipelago, with violent clashes between protesters and security forces leaving at least 13 people dead. Friday’s action was not limited to the capital: parallel demonstrations were also held in the West Java city of Bandung and in Pontianak, a major urban center on Indonesia’s Borneo island, showing growing discontent with economic policy among young people across the country.

In a development that adds new friction to already strained U.S.-China relations, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Friday that an American scholar specializing in Myanmar studies and Chinese foreign policy has been taken into custody on suspicion of endangering national security through espionage activities.

The detained academic, Min Zin, stands accused of coordinating spying operations that threaten China’s core national interests, ministry spokesperson Lin Jian confirmed in an official statement. This arrest is highly unusual; Beijing rarely publicly detains and charges U.S. citizens with national security violations, making the case a notable flashpoint just one month after a high-profile meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, a meeting billed as a step toward resetting the two countries’ turbulent diplomatic ties.

Details of Min Zin’s disappearance first emerged from a Burmese activist familiar with the scholar, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity over fears of retaliation and arrest by Chinese authorities. The activist confirmed Min Zin vanished on June 3 shortly after arriving in Kunming, the capital of China’s southwest Yunnan Province, to attend an academic conference. This trip was not out of the ordinary for Min Zin, the source added, noting the scholar had made multiple prior visits to China without incident over the course of his research career.

A former key figure in Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement, Min Zin first rose to prominence as a student organizer during the 1988 nationwide uprising against Myanmar’s military junta, which was violently crushed by state security forces. After the crackdown, Min Zin fled Myanmar and eventually was granted political asylum in the United States. Contrary to some early unconfirmed reports, the activist who spoke to reporters emphasized Min Zin has not engaged in direct on-the-ground political activism for years, focusing his work almost entirely on academic research and policy analysis.

Today, Min Zin leads the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar (ISP Myanmar), an independent think tank he founded that produces regular research on cross-border trade and Chinese foreign policy toward Myanmar, which shares a long southwestern border with China. The think tank has maintained open, regular exchange programs with peer research institutions in China for years, and has published widely discussed analysis on topics ranging from rare earth mineral trade flows from Myanmar to China to infrastructure investment projects along the bilateral border. Beyond his think tank work, Min Zin is also a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of California, Berkeley, one of the top U.S. academic programs for Southeast Asian studies.

Global human rights advocacy organization Amnesty International has already issued an urgent public call for Chinese authorities to release Min Zin immediately, citing deep alarm over the circumstances of his detainment and the vague national security charges against him. “The opaque circumstances around Min Zin’s unexplained disappearance and subsequent arrest are deeply disturbing, and the espionage accusation against a respected academic is extremely concerning,” said Joe Freeman, a senior Myanmar researcher at Amnesty International.

The arrest comes at a delicate moment for U.S.-China relations, even after the leaders’ meeting in Beijing last month. Both countries have been engaged in tit-for-tat detentions of foreign citizens on national security grounds in recent years, and incidents like this often escalate diplomatic friction at a time when the two powers are already at odds over trade, regional security, and human rights policy.