Indonesia's president shelves China visit as unrest grows
Photo: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (Getty Images)
The president of Indonesia has canceled a planned trip to China due to the spread of protests beyond the capital Jakarta, where several regional parliament buildings were set on fire, according to Reuters.
The head of state canceled the trip on Saturday, August 30. He had planned to attend the Victory Day parade in China on September 3, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II following Japan’s official surrender.
The protests in Indonesia have become the first serious test for the government of Prabowo, who has been in power for a year. The demonstrations began this week in Jakarta over high parliamentary salaries and escalated after a police car fatally struck a motorcyclist.
"The president wants to continue monitoring (the situation in Indonesia) directly...and seek the best solutions. Therefore, the president apologises to the Chinese government that he could not attend the invitation," presidential spokesperson Prasetyo Hadi said in a video address on Saturday.
The spokesperson added that another reason for canceling the trip was the start of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Cause of violent protests and censorship
Amid the escalation of protests, the short-video service TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, temporarily suspended its live-streaming function in Indonesia for several days on Saturday.
This week, Jakarta summoned representatives of social media platforms, including Meta Platforms Inc and TikTok, urging them to step up content moderation, allegedly due to the spread of disinformation online. The government stated that such disinformation fueled the protests against it.
On Saturday, protesters set fire to regional parliament buildings in three provinces.
According to local media, demonstrators looted parliamentary office equipment in Cirebon, while police used tear gas to disperse crowds in Pekalongan and West Nusa Tenggara.
On Friday, three people died after a parliament building was set ablaze in the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, Makassar.
The state news agency Antara reported that the victims were trapped inside the burning building, while the disaster management agency said two others were injured after jumping from the building in an attempt to escape the fire.
Local outlet metrotvnews.com reported another death as a result of the fire at the parliament building in Makassar.
Protests also took place on the island of Bali, where tear gas was used against demonstrators.
In Jakarta, protesters looted the home of NasDem party lawmaker Ahmad Sahroni, stealing, among other things, household furniture.
Sahroni has been accused of making derogatory remarks about calls to dissolve parliament amid public outrage over lawmakers’ allowances. In response, he called his critics "the stupidest people in the world."
As a reminder, Ukrainian intelligence previously reported that Russia had established a new scheme for exporting oil through Indonesia.
Last year, China asked Indonesia to help revive negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.
