APHR Calls for Government Accountability and Dialogue as Jakarta Protests over Corruption and Mass Layoffs Turn Deadly
August 29, 2025
JAKARTA, 29 August 2025— ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) stands in resolute solidarity with the students, workers, trade unions and ordinary citizens who led the mass demonstrations in central Jakarta on 28th of August 2025 criticizing the mass layoffs, systemic corruption in government, inequitable tax policies and other national crises impacting the people’s rights and livelihood.
Apart from expression of solidarity for the peoples demands, APHR vehemently denounces the police brutality leading to the death of a motorcycle taxi rider, Affan Kurniawan.
This mass demonstration is part of the wave of protests highlighting the people’s demands for better living wages, working conditions, transparency in budget spending, opposition to destructive mining laws and socio-economic policies with the poeples welfare at the center. Instead of dialogue and policy response, protesters are met with an alarming escalation of state-sponsored force.
APHR condemns in the strongest terms the use of tear gas, water cannon and armoured vehicles by state security forces to break up the crowds while medical volunteers and journalists trying to help or cover the situation were blocked. Students and workers who marched after Friday prayers toward Metro Jaya and the National Police Headquarters were met with tactics that fueled fear instead of opening room for negotiation. The death of Affan also shows the human cost of using force as the first response to civic unrest.
“Affan’s death and the uncalled violence that the public experienced are more than a single tragedy; it is a warning that the rights of ordinary people to demand better governance are at risk,” expressed Maria Angelina Sarmento, APHR Board Member and Member of Parliament of Timor-Leste.
Arlene Brosas, APHR Board Member and Former Member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines added that, “when enforcement mechanisms are prioritised over citizens’ welfare, the state abandons its fundamental duty. We therefore demand that those responsible for this lethal use of force be held to account and that the government meaningfully engage with the very reforms students and workers are calling for.”
“This moment tests whether Indonesia will choose reform or repression,” urged Wong Chen, APHR Board Member and Member of the Malaysian Parliament. “Crushing the voices that raise real concerns about corruption, job security and taxation will not resolve these issues; it will inflame them,” he added.
APHR stands with the families of the victims, with the students and workers who organised these protests and with the journalists and civil society members who bore witness despite risks.
We call on the Indonesian government to open genuine channels of dialogue with demonstrators and civil society, to prioritise legislative and regulatory reforms that address corruption, job insecurity and economic crises in the country, so that the protection of public order never again costs an innocent life.
As a network of policymakers advancing human rights, APHR will continue to monitor developments closely and to press for responses that place truth, justice and the public interest at the center of Indonesia’s recovery from this national crisis.
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📰 Covered by CNN Indonesia: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20250902071514-134-1269082/pbb-buka-suara-soal-demo-di-ri-desak-selidiki-soal-korban-tewas
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) was founded in June 2013 with the objective of promoting democracy and human rights across Southeast Asia. Our founding members include many of the region's most progressive Members of Parliament (MPs), with a proven track record of human rights advocacy work.