Hundreds of women with brooms join protests as Prabowo flies to China

A whole lot of girls sporting pink and wielding broomsticks marched to parliament in Indonesia’s capital on Wednesday to protest towards police abuses and wasteful authorities spending.

Protests in Jakarta and different key cities have stretched into their second week, fuelled by anger over value of residing points and lavish perks for MPs.

They turned violent after younger bike taxi driver Affan Kurniawan was killed when he was run over by a police car.

As protests intensified, President Prabowo Subianto mentioned he would cancel a visit to Beijing to attend China’s large army parade, however he was seen posing for a bunch picture on Wednesday, alongside Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Earlier than his China journey, Prabowo mentioned over the weekend that he would roll back perks for lawmakers – one of many core complaints of the protesters.

Throughout Wednesday’s rally, pink-clad feminine protesters from the Indonesian Girls’s Alliance (IWA) mentioned the broomsticks symbolised their need to “sweep away the grime of the state, militarism and police repression”.

The protesters additionally waved indicators with the phrases “reform the police”.

“Protests will not be crimes, however moderately democratic rights inherent in each citizen,” one of many protesters, Mutiara Ika, advised BBC Indonesia.

The IWA is a political group comprised of 90 girls’s organisations and actions, in addition to numerous civil society teams together with labor unions, human rights organisations and indigenous communities.

The ladies’s motion has a historical past of standing as much as regimes in Indonesia, enjoying a vital function in previous waves of protest. Much like the present demonstrations, girls took a stand towards Suharto’s authoritarian rule main as much as the 1998 reform motion.

The IWA says their alternative of the color pink symbolises bravery.

Different protesters have opted for inexperienced – the color of Affan’s rideshare firm uniform – in a show of solidarity.

On-line, persons are calling the colors “hero inexperienced” and “courageous pink”, and plenty of are customising their social media profile footage with filters in these shades.

The United Nations’ human rights workplace has referred to as for “immediate, thorough, and clear investigations” on allegations of human rights violations in Jakarta’s dealing with of the protests.

“The state should instantly meet all of the calls for of the individuals in the course of the demonstrations earlier than additional casualties happen,” mentioned Amnesty Worldwide Indonesia Government Director Usman Hamid.

At the least 10 individuals died in the course of the wave of demonstrations on the finish of August – some allegedly on account of police violence – whereas no less than 1,042 individuals had been rushed to hospitals throughout the archipelago, knowledge from the Indonesian Authorized Help Basis says.

The Chairperson of the Nationwide Human Rights Fee, Anis Hidayah, mentioned the present scenario was worrying, particularly because of the violence perpetrated by the authorities that continued all through the demonstrations.

“These actions are the results of a really restricted house for dialogue. When individuals need to specific their issues and difficulties, the house appears to be obtainable however not simply accessible,” he mentioned at a press convention in Jakarta on Tuesday.

In an try and quell the nationwide protests, President Prabowo introduced on Sunday that a number of state-funded perks given to politicians can be reined in, together with the scale of some allowances.

However whereas the transfer was welcomed by protesters, some recommend it does not go far sufficient.

“It’s not solely about one difficulty, however about long-standing issues with inequality, governance and accountability,” Herianto, a former central co-ordinator for the All-Indonesian College students’ Union, advised the BBC.

“Symbolic modifications are necessary, however individuals count on deeper reforms, significantly in areas that have an effect on strange residents corresponding to agricultural coverage, training and honest financial alternatives,” he added.

“The last word purpose is to push for a extra accountable, clear, and people-centred governance.”