Mass protest and the two worlds of Indonesian politics

September 3, 2025

August’s anti-government protests highlight the growth of a subculture of street protest that echoes the anti-Suharto activism of the 1990s. In opposing the new form of patronage politics Reformasi gave rise to, today’s protesters pursue goals no less daunting than those of the movement that brought down the New Order.

The wave of protests that swept through Indonesian cities and towns last week bore more than a few resemblances to those that brought down the Suharto regime in 1998.