Indonesian

Timelapse video from Indonesia shows Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupting on Flores island, sending ash 10 kilometres above its 1,584-metre peak. It’s the volcano’s third major eruption since July.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati was among those ousted days after protesters raided her home.

Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto has replaced five ministers in a lightning cabinet reshuffle after deadly protests rocked the Southeast Asian nation of 285 million people in recent weeks.

The cabinet shake-up on Monday follows rising public dissatisfaction with Prabowo’s administration and parliament’s perceived insensitivity over economic hardships affecting everyday people, which led to mass protests breaking out at the end of August.

Five ministers lost their jobs, including Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who previously served as the executive director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and managing director of the World Bank, and Budi Gunawan, the coordinating minister for politics and security.

Prabowo chose economist Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, chairman of the Deposit Insurance Corporation, to replace Indrawati, who was one of Indonesia’s longest-serving finance ministers.

Indrawati’s replacement, Sadewa, 61, highlighted his experience at a news conference, noting he had provided fiscal expertise to the last two administrations.

The new finance minister said his focus is to speed economic growth by mapping out fiscal measures and ensuring that government spending is efficient without overhauling systems.

Prabowo also removed the ministers of cooperatives, youth and sport, and the minister for migrant workers protection.

Violent protests gripped the country last month after reports emerged that all 580 members of the House of Representatives received a monthly housing allowance of 50 million rupiah ($3,075), in addition to their salaries.

The housing allowance, introduced last year, was equal to nearly 10 times the minimum wage in Jakarta and even more for lower wages in rural areas.

The independent National Commission on Human Rights reported that 10 people died during the five-day protests and described an inhumane approach by security forces in handling the demonstrations.

Police have reported the protest death toll at seven.

Demonstrations also expanded following the death of 21-year-old motorcycle delivery driver Affan Kurniawan. He was reportedly completing a food delivery order when an armoured police car sped through a crowd of demonstrators and killed him.

With high rates of youth unemployment forcing many Indonesians to turn to precarious, low-paying work such as motorcycle taxi gig work, Kurniawan’s death prompted people to take to the streets.

The protests were swiftly met with police in riot gear, and water cannon and tear gas directed at activists, including on university campuses.

Prabowo told security forces to get tough on protests that showed signs of “treason and terrorism”.

But activists did not back down, targeting government buildings as well as the homes of several politicians during demonstrations, including ousted Finance Minister Indrawati’s home on August 31.

Calm has largely returned to the country after Prabowo revoked lawmakers’ perks and privileges last week, including the housing allowance, and suspended most of their overseas trips.

The protests were also fuelled in part by fears of the military expanding its authority under Prabowo, a former special forces military general once feared across Indonesia and banned from the United States, who rebranded himself in the lead-up to last year’s election.

Indonesian President Prabowo’s free meals programme hit by more mass illness as protests against government rock country.

An investigation has been launched after some 400 children became ill after eating free school meals in Indonesia’s western Bengkulu province, in the worst case of mass food poisoning linked to President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship food programme to help pregnant women and children.

The reports of mass illness on Wednesday came as President Prabowo arrived in Beijing, China, for events commemorating the end of World War II, and days after widespread antigovernment protests rocked cities and towns across Indonesia.

Authorities will launch an investigation into the cause of the illness, Bengkulu Province ‘s Vice Governor Mian said.

“We will temporarily suspend operations at this kitchen while we investigate where the weaknesses lie,” said Mian, who goes by a single name.

“This is the domain of the BGN [National Nutrition Agency] investigation team and the authorities,” he said.

Dadan Hindayana, chief of the National Nutrition Agency, which runs the programme, told the Reuters news agency the kitchen in question had only recently started operating, asking staff to evaluate services while waiting for results of tests on the food.

Since its launch, Prabowo’s free school meals programme has been rapidly expanded to reach more than 20 million recipients, and authorities plan to reach 83 million recipients by year-end, budgeting a total cost of 171 trillion rupiah ($10.52bn) for the programme this year.

The president launched the programme in January, but the initiative had already been marred by food poisoning that affected hundreds of people.

Last month, 365 people fell ill from free school meals in Central Java. According to local media reports, laboratory results indicated that the outbreak was a result of poor sanitation.

In the latest mass illness in Bengkulu, children aged from about 4 to 12 were rushed to a local hospital complaining of stomach pain beginning last Thursday, according to a video handout from the local government.

On Wednesday, Prabowo was seen attending a military parade hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, to mark 80 years since Japan’s defeat at the end of World War II, according to China’s CCTV.

Despite the ongoing street protests at home over his government’s handling of the economy, Prabowo decided he would travel to China, after briefly reconsidering his trip amid the mass unrest.

The Jakarta Post reported on Wednesday that some 10 people are now thought to have died in protests over the weekend, with 20 people missing and 500 injured, according to reports from civic organisations and officials.

In Geneva on Monday, the United Nations called for investigations into the alleged use of disproportionate force by Indonesia’s security forces against demonstrators.

“We are following closely the spate of violence in Indonesia in the context of nationwide protests over parliamentary allowances, austerity measures, and alleged use of unnecessary or disproportionate force by security forces,” UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said.

“We stress the importance of dialogue to address the public’s concerns,” she said in a statement.

The Islamic University of Bandung’s student body says security officials ‘brutally attacked’ the campus with tear gas.

Indonesian police have used tear gas on crowds of protesters near two universities, student groups and authorities said, amid ongoing nationwide protests targeting government spending, and burgeoning fury following a motorcycle taxi driver’s death after being hit by a police car.

On Tuesday, authorities deployed tear gas around the campuses of the Islamic University of Bandung (UNISBA) and nearby Pasundan University, more than 140km (86 miles) west of the capital, Jakarta.

Muhammad Ilham, a Pasundan student, told the Reuters news agency that authorities fired tear gas canisters from outside the campus gates as well as rubber bullets.

“There was a student who got hit by the rubber bullet, two shots,” he said.

At least eight people have died in the protests since last week, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said on Monday.

According to police official Hendra Rochmawan, authorities on Tuesday did not enter the campuses but tried to break up crowds of non-student protesters who had been seeking protection within the university grounds.

UNISBA rector Harits Nu’man echoed the police statement and confirmed that the campus had been used as a medical hub for protesters.

Nevertheless, the UNISBA student body accused security forces of seeking to silence dissent, saying they “brutally attacked” the campus as tear gas caused breathing problems for some students.

Mass unrest

Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington, reporting from a crowd of motorbike taxi drivers in central Jakarta, said they were gathering to honour the 21-year-old driver who was killed after being hit by an armoured police vehicle during the protests.

“There are thousands of them. They say to demonstrate the power of peaceful assembly so they can honour their colleague, that they can call for their various demands, including economic inequality and do it peacefully,” Washington said.

She added that many civil society groups in Indonesia were currently “raising the alarm” over a civil society leader who was arrested late last night in Jakarta.

More protests are expected on Tuesday outside parliament in Jakarta, organised by a coalition of women’s groups.

Since the protests began last week, at least 20 protesters have gone missing as anger increased due to mass overspending by lawmakers and police violence, according to the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS).

The group said 20 people were reported missing in the cities of Bandung and Depok on Java Island, and the administrative cities of Central Jakarta, East Jakarta and North Jakarta.

University students have long been regarded as vanguards of Indonesia’s democracy, having taken a leading role in protests that helped topple President Soeharto in 1998.

Current President Prabowo Subianto, a military leader under Soeharto, is facing the first major test of his leadership. He met labour unions, some of which joined last week’s protest pushing for a rise in the minimum wage, and said he told lawmakers to discuss labour laws, according to a statement from his office.

Indonesians have added pink and green hues to their social media profile pictures in response to the protests, with some using the hashtag #ResetIndonesia and outlining their demands for the government.

At least three people have been killed and several injured in a fire blamed on protesters in Sulawesi island.

At least three people have been killed and five were injured in a fire blamed on protesters at a regional parliament building in eastern Indonesia, as widespread demonstrations rock the Southeast Asian nation.

Indonesia’s disaster management agency, in a statement on Saturday, confirmed the deaths following the Friday evening fire in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province, some 1,600km (994 miles) east of the capital, Jakarta.

“From last night’s incident, three people died. Two died at the scene, and one died at the hospital. They were trapped in the burning building,” the secretary of Makassar city council, Rahmat Mappatoba, told the AFP news agency on Saturday.

He accused protesters of storming the office to set the building on fire.

Indonesia’s official Antara news agency also said the victims were reported to have been trapped in the burning building, while the disaster agency said two of the injured were hurt while jumping out of the building.

Several people injured in the fire are being treated in hospital, officials said.

The fire has since been extinguished.

Indonesia has been rocked by protests across major cities, including Jakarta, since Friday, after footage spread of a motorcycle delivery driver being run over and killed by a police tactical vehicle in earlier rallies over low wages and perceived lavish perks for government officials.

In West Java’s capital city of Bandung, commercial buildings, including a bank and a restaurant, were also reportedly burned on Friday during demonstrations.

In Jakarta, hundreds of demonstrators massed outside the headquarters of the elite Mobile Brigade Corp (Brimob) paramilitary police unit that was blamed for running over motorcycle delivery driver Affan Kuniawan.

Protesters threw stones and firecrackers, and police responded with tear gas as a group tried to tear down the gates of the unit, which is notorious for its heavy-handed tactics.

On Saturday, a local online news site reported that young protesters had massed in Jakarta and were heading to the Brimob headquarters before they were stopped by a barricade.

Police said they had detained seven officers for questioning in connection with the driver’s death. The number of protesters injured in the violence is reported to be more than 200, according to the Tempo news site.

The protests are the biggest and most violent of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s tenure, and are a key test less than a year into his presidency.

Prabowo has urged calm, ordered an investigation into the unrest, visited the family of the slain delivery driver, while also warning that the demonstrations “were leading to anarchic actions”.

Among the first batch of freed prisoners were prominent rivals of former President Joko Widodo jailed during his term.

Indonesia has begun releasing hundreds of inmates from prison, including people convicted of political offences, after parliament approved the first stage of President Prabowo Subianto’s wide-ranging clemency plan, reportedly aimed at building national solidarity.

A first group of 1,178 inmates were to be released on Friday after House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad and Law Minister Supratman Andi Agtas announced late on Thursday that Subianto had signed a Presidential Decree granting amnesties.

Barely two months after he took office in October, Subianto – the former son-in-law of Indonesian dictator Soeharto – surprised the nation by saying he planned to grant clemency to some 44,000 inmates nationwide, most of them imprisoned for political reasons, as a way to help unify the country.

Law Minister Agtas said political prisoners and inmates with mental and chronic health illnesses, older people, juveniles and those convicted of blasphemy or insulting the country’s leader will be prioritised in the pardons.

Among those released on Friday were prominent rivals of former President Joko Widodo who were jailed during his term, including Hasto Kristiyanto, the secretary-general of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the country’s only formal opposition party.

A former ally of ex-President Widodo who later became a harsh critic, Kristiyanto was sentenced last week to three and a half years in prison for bribery in a 2019 legislative seat appointment scheme.

Released on Friday evening from his cell at the anti-Corruption Commission’s detention centre in South Jakarta, where he had been held since February, Kristiyanto told a cheering crowd, “We must learn from this incident.”

Agtas said parliament also approved an end to criminal proceedings against former Trade Minister Tom Lembong, also a onetime Widodo ally who broke with him during the 2024 presidential election to support political rival Anies Baswedan.

Lembong was sentenced to more than four years in prison in July for reportedly abusing his authority as minister by improperly granting sugar import permits.

“Both [Kristiyanto and Lembong] have demonstrated service to the nation, and our priority now is to strengthen the unity of the nation,” Agtas said.

Six independence activists from Indonesia’s restive West Papua region, serving prison sentences for treason, were also released.

Agtas said authorities plan to submit a second list of 1,668 inmates for release to parliament in the near future.

July 20 (UPI) — At least three people are dead after a passenger ship carrying nearly 300 people caught fire in Indonesian waters on Sunday, authorities said.

The KM Barcelona ferry caught fire Sunday morning off Gangga, a small island off the coast of North Sulawesi province, the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement.

The ship was carrying 280 passengers, according to the agency, which said the number of evacuees was still being recorded. “Search and medical efforts are ongoing for the remaining victims,” it said.

“We have deployed several maritime SAR units and rescue teams to swiftly respond to this incident,” an Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency official said.

“A central command post for search-and-rescue operations has been established at Manado Port.”

Footage of the incident published on social media by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency shows the boat engulfed in flames, spewing smoke into the air, as dozens of people wearing life preservers float in the ocean, waiting to be rescued.

Officials said favorable weather was aiding evacuation operations, but they remained on high alert due to the threat posed by the potential risk of an explosion from residual fuel.

The cause of the fire was unknown.

The incident comes just weeks after at least five people were killed when a passenger ferry sank in bad weather off the coast of Indonesia’s Bali earlier this month.

Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki has begun erupting again – at one point shooting an ash cloud 18km (11mi) into the sky – as residents flee their homes once more.

There have been no reports of casualties since Monday morning, when the volcano on the island of Flores began spewing ash and lava again. Authorities have placed it on the highest alert level since an earlier round of eruptions three weeks ago.

At least 24 flights to and from the neighbouring resort island of Bali were cancelled on Monday, though some flights had resumed by Tuesday morning.

The initial column of hot clouds that rose at 11:05 (03:05 GMT) Monday was the volcano’s highest since November, said geology agency chief Muhammad Wafid.

“An eruption of that size certainly carries a higher potential for danger, including its impact on aviation,” Wafid told The Associated Press.

Monday’s eruption, which was accompanied by a thunderous roar, led authorities to enlarge the exclusion zone to a 7km radius from the central vent. They also warned of potential lahar floods – a type of mud or debris flow of volcanic materials – if heavy rain occurs.

The twin-peaked volcano erupted again at 19:30 on Monday, sending ash clouds and lava up to 13km into the air. It erupted a third time at 05:53 on Tuesday at a reduced intensity.

Videos shared overnight show glowing red lava spurting from the volcano’s peaks as residents get into cars and buses to flee.

More than 4,000 people have been evacuated from the area so far, according to the local disaster management agency.

Residents who have stayed put are facing a shortage of water, food and masks, local authorities say.

“As the eruption continues, with several secondary explosions and ash clouds drifting westward and northward, the affected communities who have not been relocated… require focused emergency response efforts,” say Paulus Sony Sang Tukan, who leads the Pululera village, about 8km from Lewotobi Laki-laki.

“Water is still available, but there’s concern about its cleanliness and whether it has been contaminated, since our entire area was blanketed in thick volcanic ash during yesterday’s [eruptions],” he said.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic activity as well as earthquakes.

Lewotobi Laki-laki has erupted multiple times this year – no casualties have been reported so far.

However, an eruption last November killed at least ten people and forced thousands to flee.

Laki-Laki, which means “man” in Indonesian, is twinned with the calmer but taller 1,703m named Perempuan, the Indonesian word for “woman”.

Additional reporting by Eliazar Ballo in Kupang.