Emergency Activism: Indonesia’s Eroding Democracy, Activist Students, and the Art of Protest. An Interview With Frans Ari Prasetyo.

Abstract

On August 22, 2024, thousands of students took to the streets of Indonesia’s larger cities in protest against the Legislative Body’s proposed revisions of the Regional Election Law (UU Pilkada) that would, as protesters argue, only serve the continuation of power of Indonesia’s ruling elite (see #TolakPolitikDinasti).

The protests, and particularly the state’s response towards protesters, reignite memories of the 1998 student movement, the ultimate success of which has been the end of the 36-years-long authoritarian regime and the beginning of a transition towards full democracy (Aspinall, 2020). However, this achievement, just as Indonesia’s democracy, is gradually fading, and for commentators, it is only natural that the force of the student movement is regaining power.

In a column for the national newspaper Kompas’ website, appraising students’ natural inclination towards justice, Indonesian sociologist Jannus Siahaan writes a day after the nation-wide demonstrations: “Welcome back students and common sense. Indonesia, the country we love, has already been missing you.” But is this really true? Have students really been absent from the political field in the past two decades? Who is the “political vanguard”, now raging on the streets?

Frans Ari Prasetyo, a researcher, photographer, and activist himself was at the site of the protests in Bandung, West Java. In this interview, he reflects on Indonesia’s current political situation, the protesters’ grievances, but most importantly also the new dynamics in Indonesia’s cultures of protest. This interview was adapted from an email correspondence that took place in the days following the August 2024 protests.