Indonesia's climate ambitions can't shine in the dark

"On August 28, just before inequality protests spread like wildfire across Indonesia, the police blocked a peaceful climate march on the streets of Jakarta. Indigenous peoples, farmers, fisherfolk and people in wheelchairs carrying fairly innocuous signs that read, Save the Earth! Save generations! were pushed back by the police and prevented from reaching the State Palace, a frequent demonstration site."

"These police tactics turned deadly later in the week in fiery youth-led protests against lawmaker perks, in which at least 10 people were killed and thousands detained. There's no sugarcoating what many Indonesians feel about the recent violence: anger but also dread and fear. We are a nation of survivors, having faced the brutality of a military dictatorship that lasted three decades and killed an estimated 500,000 to one million civilians. Our collective skins bear the scars of authoritarian rule, which still tingle."

"Now, people no longer want just piecemeal responses that try to put the lid on boiling rage. They want thorough reforms that would address the sources of pent-up anger: low wages and rising costs of living while oligarchs and big corporations bleed the people dry. This is scarcely a new narrative. But as the fiery protests show, people have to draw the line at some point."

Police blocked a peaceful climate march in Jakarta on August 28, preventing Indigenous peoples, farmers, fisherfolk, and people in wheelchairs from reaching the State Palace. Marchers had formally notified authorities and urged passage of a Climate Justice Bill. Aggressive policing escalated into deadly violence during youth-led protests over lawmaker perks, leaving at least ten dead and thousands detained. Public anger mixes with dread rooted in memories of a brutal military dictatorship that killed hundreds of thousands. Protesters demand thorough reforms addressing low wages, rising living costs, oligarchic power, deforestation, green-mining displacements, and continued reliance on coal.

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