Speaker 1: Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS. Oh,
Speaker 1: now it makes sense.
Speaker 2: Good morning, and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday,
Speaker 2: the fourth of September. I'm Lucy Tassel, I'm Emma Gillespie.
Speaker 2: Anti government protests in Indonesia have turned violent after police
Speaker 2: killed a twenty one year old delivery driver. The protests
Speaker 2: began in the capital city of Jakarta, sparked by outrage
Speaker 2: over politicians pay. They have now spread across the country,
Speaker 2: resulting in at least seven deaths and more than twelve
Speaker 2: hundred arrests. In today's podcast, will explain what sparked these
Speaker 2: protests and what the Indonesian government plans to do next.
Speaker 1: We'll get into that right after a quick message from
Speaker 1: today's sponsor Lucy. We're talking about these protests in Indonesia today.
Speaker 1: I feel like I started to see this story on
Speaker 1: social media about a week ago, and then within a
Speaker 1: few days it had really escalated. Yeah, what started all
Speaker 1: of this?
Speaker 2: So this all began about two weeks ago when Indonesian
Speaker 2: media reported that federal politicians in Indonesia had been getting
Speaker 2: a monthly housing allowance from the federal government. Okay, and
Speaker 2: the government's rationale for this allowance is that in this
Speaker 2: term of parliament which began last year. People long term
Speaker 2: listeners to this podcast will remember how much we talked
Speaker 2: about how many different countries were having huge elections in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. Indonesia was one of them. And so
Speaker 2: from the beginning of this term that began last year,
Speaker 2: the government isn't providing housing for MPs as it has
Speaker 2: done in the past. So they're not saying, like, right,
Speaker 2: here's a place where you can leave if you've been
Speaker 2: elected to parliament.
Speaker 1: So previously elected officials got.
Speaker 2: A house, yeah, or an apartment or something like that.
Speaker 2: Their argument was we're not giving people a place to
Speaker 2: live this time, we're paying for them to find their
Speaker 2: own home in the capital city of Jakata.
Speaker 1: Okay, So is this common practice? Is it usual for
Speaker 1: governments in Indonesia or around the world anywhere to kind
Speaker 1: of provide accommodation for MPs or provide financial means to
Speaker 1: pay for their accommodation.
Speaker 2: I'd say it's fairly common. I can tell you about
Speaker 2: what happens in Australia. In Australia, MPs can claim an
Speaker 2: allowance for the nights that they stay in Canberra. Each year,
Speaker 2: they get that allowance and then they can choose how
Speaker 2: they spend it. I think they sort of claim it
Speaker 2: at the end of the year.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Some MPs choose to rent. Some might own properties in Canberra,
Speaker 2: although I would say that tends to be more people
Speaker 2: who've been in parliament a really long time and don't
Speaker 2: anticipate that that will change anytime soon. So that's people
Speaker 2: like Labor MP Tinya Plebasek who from her declaration of
Speaker 2: interests in the parliamentary system, which all MPs have to do,
Speaker 2: we know that she owns a residential property in Canberra.
Speaker 2: It's understandable. She's been in parliament since nineteen ninety eight
Speaker 2: and she has an incredibly safe Labor seat in Sydney. Yeah,
Speaker 2: there's a similar system in New Zealand, and just for
Speaker 2: something closer to Indonesia, in Malaysia, MPs can use either
Speaker 2: government provided housing or the allowance system.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: So Indonesia moving to this system brings it in line
Speaker 2: with other governments in the Australasian Oceania region. But that
Speaker 2: is not really what sparked the protests, okay.
Speaker 1: So then the protests become about the issue of how
Speaker 1: much the Indonesian MPs are getting for this allowance. How
Speaker 1: significant is it.
Speaker 2: I'm going to say a lot of numbers in the
Speaker 2: next a few minutes. I just want everyone to stay
Speaker 2: with me. I promise I'll get you through.
Speaker 1: Thank you for fagging if I can.
Speaker 2: Understand this maths, I promise anyone can. So there are
Speaker 2: five hundred and eighty members of Indonesia's Lower House, the
Speaker 2: House of Representatives. They are being paid each as much
Speaker 2: as fifty million Indonesian rupir for housing expenses every month.
Speaker 2: For context, that's around forty seven hundred Australian dollars.
Speaker 1: Okay, so hang on, just recap. MPs in Indonesia are
Speaker 1: getting about four and a half grand Ausie dollars per
Speaker 1: month for their living expenses, housing expenses, for.
Speaker 2: Their housing expenses. Yes, now, I mentioned a second ago
Speaker 2: that Australian MPs can claim an allowance for how long
Speaker 2: they're staying in Canberra for official business. Australian MPs can
Speaker 2: claim about three hundred and twenty dollars a night for
Speaker 2: each night that they stay in Canberra. This year, the
Speaker 2: Australian Lower House, the House of Representatives, is meant to
Speaker 2: sit for around forty days. That works out to be
Speaker 2: about twelve seven hundred Australian dollars that MPs can claim
Speaker 2: in housing expenses, assuming they stay forty nights for the
Speaker 2: forty days, so each of those nights being around three
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty dollars. Maybe they claim a couple on
Speaker 2: either side of sitting weeks. That is a far cry
Speaker 2: from a monthly allowance of four and a half grand,
Speaker 2: which over the course of a whole year works out
Speaker 2: to be about fifty six thousand dollars Australian dollars.
Speaker 1: But that's an allowance kind of assuming or permitting MPs
Speaker 1: in Indonesia to stay in Jakarta full time, whereas the
Speaker 1: Aussie allowance system is set up to pay for politicians
Speaker 1: to be in Canbra during sitting periods. So three hundred
Speaker 1: and eighteen dollars a night being that allowance. If Polly's
Speaker 1: were in Canbra full time, I'm sure that would amount
Speaker 1: to thousands and thousands of dollars.
Speaker 2: Yes. I'll also mention that this housing allowance makes up
Speaker 2: about half of the total remuneration for Indonesian MPs okay
Speaker 2: Ossie MPs. This is on top of what they already
Speaker 2: get paid, which can range from two hundred grand to
Speaker 2: closer to six hundred grand depending on their level of seniority. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so a lot of numbers there. The crucial thing, though,
Speaker 2: the crucial number that you really need to know, is
Speaker 2: that the thing that incited the initial protests is that
Speaker 2: the monthly housing allowance is ten times the monthly minimum
Speaker 2: wage in the city of k Yeah. That's Indonesia's capital,
Speaker 2: where the parliament sits. So that is what has kind
Speaker 2: of sparked these protests, is this idea that just to
Speaker 2: be in the city, the five hundred and eighty MPs
Speaker 2: are getting paid ten times the monthly minimum wage for
Speaker 2: everyone else in the city.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think that's a really important figure because when
Speaker 1: you hear that total Indonesian MP's salary sits at around
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand Aussie dollars, that may sound like a lot,
Speaker 1: but considering Ossie MPs are paid more like two hundred
Speaker 1: grand at a minimum. I also think it's important to
Speaker 1: flag the cost of living is different in Indonesia.
Speaker 2: Yea.
Speaker 1: It is a in many respects developing country. So what
Speaker 1: might sound like maybe to some Australians like a not
Speaker 1: extremely impressive salary. Obviously, we know that it is ten
Speaker 1: times the monthly minimum wage in Jakarta.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, Lucy.
Speaker 1: I understand now where these protests have come from, but
Speaker 1: what do we know about the initial action? Where did
Speaker 1: it start and how did things escalate.
Speaker 2: We know that it's centered in Jakarta around the Parliament building.
Speaker 2: We know that student groups were involved, and we know
Speaker 2: that police were firing tear gas at crowds and crowds
Speaker 2: were throwing rocks and bottles at police. There's differing reports
Speaker 2: as to who incited that kind of exchange. Yep. We
Speaker 2: also know that several politicians' homes were looted and attacked
Speaker 2: in Jakarta. Again, like, I mean, that would be this
Speaker 2: kind of site that you would go to if you
Speaker 2: were protesting against the housing allowance, right, you'd go to
Speaker 2: the home that's being paid for out of the taxpayer dollars.
Speaker 2: You can't understand that logic. I should also note that
Speaker 2: the housing allowance announcement came soon after the Indonesian government
Speaker 2: handed down its budget, which included some funding cuts, right,
Speaker 2: so the Finance minister's home could also be like it
Speaker 2: explains why that was a target.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we can assume that there is this public
Speaker 1: outrage over the housing allowance, also at a sensitive time
Speaker 1: around budget cuts and you know, shifting priorities in the
Speaker 1: government's spending.
Speaker 2: Yes. So again, these first few days of protests that
Speaker 2: contained to the capital city, but that changed when police
Speaker 2: killed a delivery driver near the protests.
Speaker 1: That Lucy strikes me as quite an escalation. Yeah, what happened?
Speaker 2: So last Thursday, a twenty one year old motorbike delivery
Speaker 2: driver named Afan konia I was near the site of
Speaker 2: a protest when he was run over by an armored
Speaker 2: police vehicle.
Speaker 1: Was he involved in the protest at this point, It's
Speaker 1: not believed that he was involved at the protests, Okay,
Speaker 1: so he just happened to be passing by on a motorbike.
Speaker 2: Yes. The incident then, kind of it made the protest
Speaker 2: explode basically across the whole country, and it also led
Speaker 2: to protests being against the presence of the military and
Speaker 2: police behavior in day to day life in Indonesia.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: This also was kind of a flashpoint because Indonesia has
Speaker 2: very high rates of informal employment, that's according to the
Speaker 2: World Bank and forms of informal employment we know include
Speaker 2: things like being a delivery driver, so that made this
Speaker 2: particularly relevant to protesters. Yeah, and following this, these protests
Speaker 2: turned violent. There have been several deaths, including three people
Speaker 2: who were killed when a city council building was set alight.
Speaker 2: Hundreds of people had been injured, and more than twelve
Speaker 2: hundred people have been arrested.
Speaker 1: So what started as a protest about this housing allowance
Speaker 1: scheme has kind of evolved into a much bigger picture
Speaker 1: protest movement about military powers, law enforcement, police presence, and
Speaker 1: broader kind of government policy in Indonesia.
Speaker 2: Is that right, Yes, and all these kind of interconnected issues, Like,
Speaker 2: obviously we know that the police are kind of a
Speaker 2: manifestation of the government that exists in the community. They
Speaker 2: enforced laws, and so if you're angry at police, you're
Speaker 2: also kind of angry at the government. And people were
Speaker 2: already angry at the government, So it's kind of this
Speaker 2: perfect storm of issues. An interesting point that I'll raise
Speaker 2: that came up in my research of this topic was
Speaker 2: from researchers at the University of Melbourne who have suggested
Speaker 2: that while the protests are very much real and organic,
Speaker 2: some of the violence that's resulted was manufactured. That's their
Speaker 2: suggestion by wealthy Indonesians loyal to the former president, Joko Widodo,
Speaker 2: who are trying to undermine the new president who was
Speaker 2: elected last year, Proboo Subianto. So that's their allegation.
Speaker 1: Right, So on top of all of this, there is
Speaker 1: this alleged conspiracy, a political conspiracy essentially. How has the
Speaker 1: new president responded to these protests.
Speaker 2: He canceled a planned trip to China. He was going
Speaker 2: to go to this military parade in China marking the
Speaker 2: end of World War Two. He's also met with the
Speaker 2: family of the delivery driver who police killed, and he's
Speaker 2: called for a full investigation into the incident. And the
Speaker 2: latest update is that on Monday he said he would
Speaker 2: scrap the housing allowance that sparked all of this.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, yes, so that's gone.
Speaker 2: That's gone now. The protests have also cooled off. But
Speaker 2: as we know, this is such a complex issue, something
Speaker 2: else could trigger more action. We're just going to have
Speaker 2: to keep tabs on it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I suppose it's one thing for the housing allowance
Speaker 1: to be resolved in a sense, but clearly there is
Speaker 1: unrest and disappointment amongst Indonesians about how a lot of
Speaker 1: aspects to day to day governing are being handled. Yeah, totally, Lucy,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for explaining that to us. A
Speaker 1: very complicated one, but we appreciate you taking us through it.
Speaker 1: Thanks Emma, and thank you for listening to today's episode.
Speaker 1: We'll be back a little later on with your evening
Speaker 1: news headlines, but until then, have a great day.
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