TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Prabowo spoke up about the waves of protests that have erupted across Indonesia since the beginning of his presidency. According to him, demonstrations are an everyday occurrence in a democracy, as the Constitution guarantees the right to protest, to unite, and to gather.
The Gerindra Party boss, however, questioned the authenticity of said protests, alluding to the existence of “paid protesters” instead of purely to platform citizens’ aspirations.
"Pay close attention, were the protests genuine or paid? Let’s look at this objectively,” said Prabowo, as quoted from Narasi TV's podcast on Tuesday, April 8, 2025. Najwa Shihab, the founder of the channel, permitted Tempo to quote Prabowo as saying.
The former Minister of Defense maintained that protests must be conducted peacefully without inciting riots. “We’re not children, we respect the right to demonstrate, as long as it’s a peaceful one. We do not wish to incite riots. Burning tires, for example, is not peaceful,” he said. “I am a former security officer, sometimes officers are pelted with plastic filled with human feces," said Prabowo.
Prabowo claimed he was vigilant of “foreign agents” or groups leveraging the protests to cause trouble. “We ought to remain vigilant while managing a country, whether there are foreign powers seeking to sow discord. This is common practice," said Prabowo.
Previously, civil society and student’s protests against the ratification of TNI law throughout Indonesia have received widespread attention.
Some civil society groups consider the deliberation process of the TNI Law revision to be rushed and lacking public participation. Demands for soldiers to “remain at the barracks” emerged and continued to spread as people feared an expanded military roles in civil positions.
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