TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – A number of students from various campuses in several Indonesian regions will hold a protest on June 15, 2026. This protest is part of the series of students’ dissatisfaction with the economic policies including the free nutritious meal program and the red and white village cooperatives of President Prabowo Subianto.
In Jakarta, there will be at least two actions held at the Jakarta Presidential Palace. The first action is led by the Executive Board of Bung Karno University Students (BEM UBK) along with other campuses.
This action carries the theme of ‘Redefining Indonesia.’ In this action, the Bung Karno University Student Executive Board will convey six demands, including urging the government to temporarily stop and evaluate the free nutritious meal program and the Red and White Village Cooperatives; review the Police Law; stop militarism and uphold civilian supremacy.
Furthermore, the Bung Karno University Student Executive Board also urges the government to take strategic steps to maintain the stability of the exchange rate of the rupiah and national economic resilience; demand the government to provide inclusive, quality, and affordable education for all Indonesian people; and finally review the increase in the price of fuel oil for burdening the public.
The Chair of the Faculty of Law BEM UBK, M. Abdi Maludin, explained that the Redefining Indonesia action was the result of the consolidation of UBK student organizations on Saturday, June 13, 2026. According to Abdi, this consolidation was carried out after an internal review by the UBK BEM that the country is currently in a state of decline. This condition is marked by various demands emerging from the discourse of Reform 2 to demands to stop the free nutritious meal program.
“So, we from the Bung Karno University Student Executive Board consolidated based on the indicator that today the country must rise against the current decline,” said Abdi to Tempo on Sunday, June 14, 2026.
Abdi estimated that around 200 people from UBK would take to the streets. However, this number could be more with the addition of the University of Pamulang Student Executive Board (Unpam) and the Jakarta Muhammadiyah University (UMJ) stating that they will join the action tomorrow.
In addition to BEM UBK, the Paramadina University Student Union will also take to the streets today. The Paramadina University Student Union will bring the call for Reform 2. Through its Instagram account, the Paramadina University Student Union will bring five demands, including stabilizing the exchange rate of the rupiah by stopping the wastage of the state budget and evaluating the populist program of free nutritious meals and the Red and White Village Cooperatives. Then, they demand the government to reduce the price of fuel and staple goods; demand President Prabowo and his officials to stop evading and acknowledge their failure; cancel the revision of the Police Law; and stop militarization in civil society.
The Paramadina University Student Union will hold a demonstration at the Presidential Palace at 13:00 WIB (Western Indonesian Time) with a gathering point at the Nurcholis Madjid Building lobby at Paramadina University.
Actions will also be held outside Jakarta. In Central Java, the Islamic Students Association (HMI) branch of Semarang will also hold a demonstration today. As quoted from their Instagram, HMI Semarang brings the call for Reform 2. They invite all HMI cadres to join in the demonstration to overthrow Prabowo-Gibran at 10:00 WIB. The action will be held at all central points in the city of Semarang with a gathering point at the Secretariat of the Semarang HMI branch.
Campuses outside the island of Java will also hold demonstrations today. One of them is the BEM of the University of North Sumatra (BEM USU). The BEM USU will bring six demands in this action, which are energy and the increase of fuel oil prices; national economy; security regulations (Police Law); evaluation of the free nutritious meal program; education budget; and finally the issues of the environment and agrarian.
The action will be held at 12:00 WIB with a gathering point at the Student Government Secretariat of USU. The action will be carried out at the North Sumatra Regional People’s Representative Council Building.
Other campuses in Sumatra that will hold demonstrations today are the Executive Board of Students (Dema) of the UIN Raden Fatah Palembang, South Sumatra. Through their Instagram account, Dema UIN Raden Fatah referred to this action as an Emergency in Indonesia. The gathering point for the action is the basketball court of UIN Raden Fatah at 8:00 WIB with the demonstration point being the South Sumatra Regional People’s Representative Council Building.
Dema UIN Raden Fatah will bring six demands in this action, including giving a 7×24 hour ultimatum to President Prabowo and the Governor of South Sumatra to ensure the stability of the prices of staple goods to remote areas; rejecting the increase in the price of fuel oil and anticipating the disappearance of subsidized fuel oil to remote areas.
Furthermore, they demand that the government safeguard the value of the Indonesian currency rupiah as a symbol of national economic sovereignty; reject Prabowo’s free nutritious meal program and the red and white village cooperatives, which are considered premature and need to be comprehensively reviewed; urge the passage of the Draft Law on Asset Confiscation as a concrete step in eradicating corruption; and finally reject the Police Law and condemn the repressive actions of the authorities towards the masses in expressing their opinions in public.
Read: UBK Students Plan Palace Protest to ‘Reshape Indonesia’
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