Turbulent Demonstrations Ease, People Need Transparency And Empathy

JAKARTA A total of four members of the DPR, namely Nafa Urbach, Ahmad Sahroni, Surya Utama alias Uya Kuya, Eko Hendro Purnomo alias Eko Patrio, and Adies Kadir have been disabled. However, the government's response is still considered floating.

After a week of demonstrations, the situation in a number of regions in Indonesia began to become conducive. However, the government and the DPR are considered by a number of observers who have not been able to resolve the root of the problem that has led to widespread demonstrations in various regions.

Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) Bhima Yudhistiwa emphasized that this demonstration was purely due to public anger triggered by the government's failure to make economic conditions better.

"Private public anger, the government has failed in economic policy. It cannot answer about employment issues, inequality is allowed," said Bhima.

Transparency, reform, empathy. Such are the demands that are widely echoed by the public on social media after the situation in a number of regions in Indonesia heated up following a series of demonstrations that often ended in chaos.

The mass action for this period began on August 25, after news of a housing allowance for DPR members amounting to Rp50 million per month. In fact, according to the calculation of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) by processing a list of the 2023-2025 DPR budget implementation contents (DIPA), the income of one DPR member is estimated at Rp230 million per month consisting of salaries and allowances.

In total, the income of one DPR member reaches IDR 2.8 billion per year. For this reason, the state must allocate a budget of IDR 1.6 trillion during 2025 to pay 580 members of the DPR.

Failed to meet representatives of the people, the demonstration continued on August 28. However, the situation heated up after motorcycle taxi driver (ojol) Affan Kurniawan died after being run over by a Brimob tactical vehicle at night.

The next day, demonstrations heated up. There was a burning at several TransJakarta bus stops. In other areas it is no less critical. The Makassar DPRD building, South Sulawesi was burned and resulted in three deaths.

For a week, in the midst of the unrest of the community, the government remained silent. Student requests for dialogue with members of the DPR are one-sided.

It was only on Sunday (31/8/2025) that President Prabowo Subianto held a press conference responding to the rampant demonstrations that led to looting. He asked the citizens to believe in the government, to be calm.

The President also emphasized that he would correct allowances for members of the DPR.

Four members of the DPR have been disabled. They are Nafa Urbach and Ahmad Sahroni and the National Democratic Pasrati (Nasdem), Uya Kuya and Eko Patrio from the National Mandate Party (PAN), as well as Golkar politician Adies Kadir.

So, did the problem end with the deactivator of members of the DPR?

During the first demonstration for the August period, the trigger was public anger following the three-digit income of DPR members. This is coupled with the attitude of a number of DPR members who are not wise in responding to the news of the existence of the housing allowance.

However, Trisakti University public policy observer Trubus Rahadiansyah assessed that the DPR's words were not the only trigger for the people's anger. Trubus actually said that the DPR's way of determining policies related to income such as salaries and non-transparent allowances was the cause.

Meanwhile, economist Bhima Yudhistira ensured that the demonstration was motivated by the government's failure to make economic conditions better.

"Private public anger, the government has failed in economic policy. It cannot answer about employment issues, inequality is allowed," said Bhima.

The economic condition is at risk of getting worse because the government's dissatisfaction with the community is also not taken seriously. In fact, Bhima assessed that state officials were impressed with various public demands, including tax reform and budget efficiency evaluation.

"Like the tip of the iceberg, investors actually read out public anger as a fundamental problem for Indonesia's economy that has not been resolved, so there is a disruption, not from demonstrations but from the failure of government economic policies," he explained.

Senior researcher of the Indonesian Parliamentary Concerned Community Forum (Formappi) Lucius Karus said the response of the government and the DPR to various demands of the masses was still floating.

He emphasized that the public needed more concrete, measurable, and based on written decisions that could be a reference. Lucius said the government and the DPR should also understand that the people's demands are not just about allowances for members of the DPR.

So far, there have been problems that make people so restless, namely covering the performance, transparency, and accountability of various allowances received by council members.

The Indonesian Political Opinion (IPO) survey released a public perception of the government's optimism for the government's performance in May 2025. From the survey, Executive Director of IPO Dedi Kurnia Syah said that the DPR was ranked third at the bottom of state institutions that were trusted by the public. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Political Indicators national survey agency put the DPR in 10th position out of 11 state institutions.

Empathy of public officials is needed in the current situation. Arrogance and habit-flexing need to be considered. The economic situation of the citizens as a whole should be a benchmark for how members of the DPR and public officials appear in front of the people.

"Showing inequality in appearance is a form of insensitivity of the people's representatives in the people's situation and condition. There are many messages conveyed and all public messages must be responded to thoroughly and fundamentally," said Lucius.