#MilkTeaAlliance Statement on the Brutality of Policing in Indonesia. Call for Solidarity with Indonesians Facing Police Violence and the Suppression of Rights.

Fuck the Police. 29th August 2025.

A rail station tear-gassed, Affan Kurniawan killed by being run over by an armoured car^[1] protesters attacked with water cannons, batons, and the brutality of policing. Over 600 people have been arrested. That was just on the 28th of August in Jakarta, when thousands protested against excessive government pay. Yet it is not isolated, protests in Pati^[2] a few weeks earlier faced similar police violence, as did the protests against the TNI law earlier this year.^[3] This is not okay, the violence by the police and security forces has been brutal, excessive, and indiscriminate. Moreover, journalists have been attacked and media organisations threatened.^[4]

To add insult to injury, some are reporting that social media sites have been blocked in response to the protests in a failed effort to stop news of the violence by police. The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission of Jakarta province appears to have issued a warning to media outlets not to cover excessive violence and “build a peaceful atmosphere."^[5] 

The people of Indonesia are exercising their fundamental rights of speech and expression; their grievances against the government are legitimate, and they should be listened to, not attacked nor suppressed.  

The government of Prabowo, since coming to power has stepped up militarisation within the country, alongside escalating the use of force against protesters. No stranger to human rights abuses himself^[6], it appears that he has not changed since his time in the army carrying out brutal repression in East Timor and West Papua (to where, since coming to power, he has sent thousands more troops to continue the ongoing colonial repression, land grabs, and resource extraction^[7]).

We cannot ignore all of this. This widespread suppression of freedoms, the democratic backsliding, the militarisation, as well as the brutality. We call on all our friends and allies in the region and beyond to stand in solidarity with the peoples of Indonesia against this suppression and violence. Our friends in Indonesia have been incredible allies to our struggles over the years and again it is time to raise up their voices and support them.

To our friends in Indonesia, we know you are in the midst of it, we see you and what is happening. Know you are not alone, we will do what we can to help, we will amplify your voices.

In Love & Solidarity.
#MilkTeaAlliance Friends of Myanmar & Calendar Team