August was meant to be a celebrative month of Indonesia’s Independence Day, but in reality, starting from August 25th, thousands of students, workers, and activists in Jakarta and across Indonesia flood the streets in front of the House of Representatives. The protests targeted legislators and the executive branch for what the people view as outrageous policies. According to the people, the government has closed its ears and eyes to the recent conditions of the country. President Prabowo’s administration has been criticized for provoking a riot through absurd, one-sided decisions while expecting Indonesians to move on and accept them.
The protests continued for almost two weeks with minimal response from the government while President Prabowo went ahead with awarding the Order of Honor to 141 recipients deemed unqualified by the public, some of whom are convicts of corruption and human rights violations. Protesters clashed with police, facing tear gas and water cannons, and many; most of them minors, were arrested without clear charges. The Indonesian people also bore witness to the police brutality that killed Affan Kurniawan, a motorcycle taxi driver who was run over by a police tactical armored vehicle. The late driver was in fact not participating in the protest; he was merely caught in the crowd before facing a cruel death. By September 3rd, Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia; the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation recorded at least 3,337 arrests, 1,042 people injured and hospitalized, and 10 confirmed deaths. Additionally, reports also surfaced of some protesters and journalists who were beaten or disappearing after being taken into police custody.
Indonesia is facing a condition of bestuurlijke verlamming, or governance paralysis. This paralysis is defined as a situation where the state formally functions, as laws are drafted and budgets are passed, while nothing effective happens because the decision-makers are locked in self-interest and sheer incompetence. As a result, Indonesians have been turning to pop culture references to express this frustration, from the One Piece flag to the Hunger Games governance framing. The parallels can be seen in how both Panem and Indonesia excel in their ceremonial events yet fail at problem-solving, making their motions meaningless and performative. Now, the month of the 80th celebration of independence has gone down in history as one of the most inhumane times the people have had to endure.
Banality of Leadership
Banal leadership takes place when the people have grown so accustomed to mediocrity in power that ordinary actions and incompetence are shrugged off or even laughed at. During the People’s Consultative Assembly’s annual plenary session, the legislators were seen happily dancing after the announcement of the fixed salary and benefits increase, totalling to $6,310 per month. In a year, this totals to over over $46.7 million for 580 parliamentary members which has not included recess funds. The increase that came at the time of budget efficiencies are considered tone-deaf as honorary teachers scrape for around $363 annually, far below the $2,172 average annual salary in Indonesia. Parliamentarians on the other hand earn 30 times more than the national average without tax deductions. Meanwhile, the government has yet to allocate 44% of education funds to the free nutritious meals program that has ironically caused thousands of food poisoning cases while only 6.41% of the Indonesian population are able to afford higher education.
Leadership figures in Indonesia mirror the act of Hunger Games’s President Snow. It is highlighted on how Snow’s control in Panem is rooted in spectacle and fear rather than competence. President Prabowo, similarly, is known to never stand trial for alleged abductions of pro-democracy activists in 1998 while serving as Commander General of the Special Forces Command. Instead of reckoning with this past, he is defended by many due to the military’s hierarchical top-down approach, though the concept of conscientious objection for military personnels is available and recognized from United Nations Resolutions, Prabowo and the other Mawar Team personnels moral accountability remains questionable. Adding to this irony, his “cuddly” and “cute” persona during the 2024 presidential elections led many Indonesians to pity him as an individual supposedly being controlled by stronger forces, causing the president incapable of making independent decisions. Like Snow, Prabowo’s impunity persists not because of skill or legitimacy, but because the system tolerates and even normalizes this.
Collective Dunning-Kruger Effect
The Dunning-Kruger effect occurs when people with low competence fail to recognize their own shortcomings, leading to stupidity merging as a societal lifestyle. In the Hunger Games, the Capitol’s elites parade in extravagance while remaining oblivious and indifferent to districts’ realities. Indonesia’s administration reflects this dynamic with the issuing of empty statements and history gaslighting, disguising their own lack of knowledge as confidence and ignorance. From President Prabowo’s newly appointed cabinet alone, numerous insensitive statements have emerged. Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani once stated that paying teachers' salaries was Indonesia's biggest challenge. Members of the parliament’s illogical remarks add to this absurdity; Deputy Chairman of Commission III, Ahmad Sahroni brands government critics questioning the parliament as idiots while Adies Kadir, Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives, defended the $3,000 housing support as insufficient as he bizarrely calculate monthly rents as if they were daily expenses. These remarks projects incompetences not only for its flawed analysis or basic mathematical error, but it illustrates how governmental officials are unable to grasp a common logic both in delivering and setting beliefs for millions of Indonesians
The same problem rises beyond economics to history itself. Minister of Culture, Fadli Zon has publicly doubted the validity of the 1998 mass rape case, dismissing these heinous and confirmed crimes as just rumors. The remark itself pushes historical revisionism through the official history rewriting project, risking erasing records of human rights abuses happening throughout Indonesia’s history. Denying atrocities despite extensive survivor testimonies and institutions built because of this incident is not just ignorance, it’s falsehood. For nearly 900 weeks, victims and their families have demonstrated peacefully in the Kamisan Action demanding justice while their struggles are met with indifference. This historical amnesia reduces the government's credibility to provide justice to unpunished human rights abuses.
So, Now What?
Less than a year into President Prabowo’s term, the bad news is already clear in national and international headlines. Citizens are oppressed, reduced to political buzzers by a government system steeped in impunity. Each violation that escapes accountability compounds the next, and those in power; paid with public funds, refuse to protect the very people they should serve. This demonstration is not without a purpose. The 17+8 demands that range from the abolition of aristocratic privileges to responsibility for human rights abuses, have been outlined by students, workers, and activists. These demands demonstrate that the public's frustration is not disorder but rather clarity; an unwillingness to allow governance paralysis to pass for normal. In a rare move, the House of Representatives has recently opened its doors to let students voice their aspirations inside the chamber, but whether this signals genuine listening or just another performance remains to be seen.
Resignation isn’t an option. The ‘now what’ is simple but difficult: refuse silence. Call out revisionism, demand accountability, and make despair visible instead of hidden. Indonesians, may the odds be ever in your favor.