19 September 2025 (closed)
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New Report Out! Read the Full Introduction of the August 2025 Report
The month of August is typically a month of celebration because every 17th of August Indonesia celebrates its Independence Day. Indeed, the country commemorated and celebrated this day (as usual) on 17 August 2025. However, by the end of the month matters had changed drastically. In fact, Indonesia was on fire amid widespread civil disturbance.
Numerous demonstrations were seen across the bigger cities of Indonesia at the end of August 2025, leading to casualties and destruction of public and private property. Houses of several lawmakers as well as the house of Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati were ransacked by mobs, which is something we have rarely seen before in Indonesian history.
Such anger and violence are symptoms of a number of deeper, underlying matters. It reveals people’s growing resentment over economic disparity, their distrust of the political elites, and the erosion of patience regarding authorities’ repeated promises for reform. In the first article of this month’s report, we discuss these topics in more detail.
Indeed, it is remarkable how unequal Indonesian society is. In Jakarta we can find the richest families one can imagine, while those passing by their houses struggle to survive (let alone those who live in the remote rural regions of Papua and Maluku). While precise figures are difficult to pinpoint, numerous reports that were released over the years indicate that a very small fraction of the Indonesian population holds a disproportionately large share of the country's wealth.
For example, Credit Suisse noted in a report (released in 2016) that the richest one percent of Indonesians controlled nearly half of the country's wealth. Other sources have echoed similar findings. A 2017 Boston Consulting Group report noted that the top 0.1 percent of Indonesian households may control over 50 percent of financial wealth. Meanwhile, Oxfam reported in 2017 that the four richest people in Indonesia own more wealth than the combined total of the poorest 100 million Indonesians, highlighting a significant wealth disparity. This wealth disparity, particularly when there are signs that it is becoming worse, is a ticking social time bomb.
For Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto this crisis means he is currently facing his first big test as the head of state. At the time of writing this introduction, Prabowo urges citizens to remain calm, continue trusting the government, and assured people that the death of an online motorcycle taxi on 28 August 2025 (who was run over by a police vehicle) is to be fully investigated. However, as demonstrations and violence intensified on 29 and 30 August 2025, Prabowo decided to cancel his trip to China where he had been invited to attend the military parade in Beijing (that is scheduled for 3 September 2025), marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
In a televised statement on 31 August 2025, Prabowo (joined by representatives of key political parties) said that the government would respect the “pure aspirations” of the people, but at the same time he ordered the army and police to act “as tough as needed” if demonstrations are to turn violent (in order to defend the people and assets of the country).
While many were bracing for escalating violence on Monday 1 September 2025, with some schools deciding to keep their doors closed (with students learning at home), matters were relatively peaceful on 1 September 2025. However, the problem with ticking time bombs is that we can hear the ticking, but we never know exactly when they are going to explode.
This introduction and the whole report were completed on 2 September 2025. This means that (potential) key developments that happened after 2 September 2025 are not included in this report.
Richard van der Schaar, MA Indonesian Studies
Managing Director
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