Tag: Indonesia

Indonesia’s Reformasi 2.0: the political echoes of 1998 movements with contemporary 17+8 demands

On 25 August, 2025, nationwide social unrest sparked across Indonesia. These demonstrations emerged amid broader civil unrest over economic hardships and a planned increase in housing subsidies for parliamentarians. Since early 2025, Indonesian citizens have been grappling with rising costs of living, widening inequality, and limited job opportunities, especially among young people. This movement has drawn similarites to the Reformasi movement of 1998, which ended  three decades of dictatorial, rule, ushering in a new democratic age. In both cases, economic hardship, corruption, and public anger at elites’ privilege have became catalysts for mass mobilisation. … Continue readingIndonesia’s Reformasi 2.0: the political echoes of 1998 movements with contemporary 17+8 demands

Indonesia: Swept under the Carpet

On a single day in 1965, an Indonesian coup rapidly turned into a full-frontal massacre, resulting in an estimated 500,000 to three million deaths. Although the September 30th Movement, as it later became known, was an event of incredible brutality, many parts of this story have regrettably not been told. The atrocities committed as a result of this coup have been largely concealed — unfortunately swept beneath Indonesian and foreign governments’ carpets, for purely economic and strategic aims.

Monique Westcott delves into the history of one of Indonesia’s darkest periods, and the Western interference that helped precipitated it. … Continue readingIndonesia: Swept under the Carpet