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🇮🇩 Indonesia /Elections & Politics

BEM UI to Hold National Consolidation on Nation's Condition

From Tempo · () Indonesian

Translated from Indonesian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • BEM UI plans national consolidation meetings to address the nation's economic and democratic conditions under President Prabowo Subianto.
  • The student group previously held a symbolic protest, declaring "Reformasi is dead" and criticizing the current administration.
  • The meetings follow a protest where students burned counterfeit money to symbolize the weakening rupiah and economic downturn.

The Executive Board of University of Indonesia (BEM UI) announced plans for national consolidation meetings to address the current economic and democratic conditions in Indonesia under President Prabowo Subianto's administration. BEM UI Chairman Yatalathof Ma'shum Imawan stated that the student body will first hold focus group discussions (FGD) with student elements from across UI on Monday, followed by a national consolidation on Wednesday.

Monday we will have an FGD discussing national issues. Then, Wednesday there will be a national consolidation.

— Yatalathof Ma'shum ImawanOutlining the schedule for BEM UI's upcoming meetings.

These planned discussions come after BEM UI held a symbolic protest on May 20, 2026, at the Tugu Makara campus in Depok. During this action, students declared "Reformasi has died" and carried banners reading "Adili Prabowo dan Kroninya" (Prosecute Prabowo and his Cronies). They also prepared a replica grave with a tombstone inscribed "RIP Reformasi," symbolizing their mourning for the state of reformasi.

We declare that the reformasi that has been fought for has now died.

— Hafidz HaernandaExplaining the symbolic meaning of the "Reformasi is dead" protest.

Co-coordinator Hafidz Haernanda explained that the protest was a statement of the students' stance on the current state of democracy, indicating that the reformasi agenda, long fought for, had concluded. He warned that the end of the reformasi era could usher in a more repressive phase, drawing parallels to the New Order era. The students believe that the current situation reflects the "death" of reformasi due to unmet demands from students and the public.

We see the reformasi agenda has ended.

— Hafidz HaernandaAssessing the current state of the reformasi movement.

Meanwhile, the BEM SI alliance held a protest on June 5, 2026, in front of the Bank Indonesia representative office in Central Java, Semarang. They staged a theatrical burning of counterfeit money as a protest against the weakening rupiah against the US dollar. The group argued that the rupiah's decline mirrors the deteriorating national economy and urged the government to take immediate, tactical steps to stabilize the economy. The rupiah had weakened to Rp 18,049 per US dollar on June 4, 2026. Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa acknowledged that the rupiah's weakening would increase the government's debt repayment burden, though he stated it remained within their calculated range.

This is still within the range of our calculations that I mentioned earlier.

— Purbaya Yudhi SadewaCommenting on the rupiah's weakening and its impact on government debt.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Tempo in Indonesian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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