section_path: Background/February protests
section_name: February protests
paragraph_text: February protests
  
  The protests occurred as a response over controversial policies by Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto and his vice-president Gibran Rakabuming Raka, which include the free nutritious meal (MBG) programme and the enactment of Presidential Instruction Number 1 of 2025, which led into massive budget cuts, supposedly to fund the free nutritious meal programme. The nickname #IndonesiaGelap itself originates as a hashtag popular on Twitter (X). According to Beautynesia, the hashtag had been used by more than 760 thousand tweets, but within 24 hours, this number has increased up to 14 million tweets. While according to coordinator of BEM SI, Satria Naufal, it represents "the fears, worries, and well-being of the citizens". Digital research company Jangkara found that during February 2025, the hashtag has received 81% negative sentiment, followed by 13% neutral and 6% positive, based on their analysis on 64,816 comments on X.
  
  The student protests were preceded by a similar anti-government Adili Jokowi (' Try Jokowi ') protest, which occurred at Surakarta on 14 February 2025, demanding investigation of cases involving him. However, 10 minutes later, the protesters dispersed after heavy rain. Alongside this, there have been instances of graffiti bearing the inscription Adili Jokowi throughout parts of Java, such as Yogyakarta, Surabaya, and Malang, much of which was later removed by local authorities. Musician Iwan Fals, nonetheless, has criticised this demand and questioned what are his faults in office. Meanwhile, founder of KedaiKOPI, Hendri Satrio, has also doubted the success of this movement, stating that it would be difficult for the Prabowo's government to arrest and bring Jokowi into justice.
  
  Central coordinator of BEM SI, Herianto, claimed that Indonesia "is being led by twin suns", and gave an example regarding ban on sale of 3 kg LPG gas cylinders by small informal retail traders, a policy that was enforced without knowledge of the president Prabowo Subianto and then subsequently repealed. He also claimed that students were disappointed after Prabowo shouted "Long live Jokowi!" during the 17th anniversary of Gerindra Party at Sentul International Convention Center. Prabowo himself has been accused by his opponents and political analysts of being Jokowi's puppet due to his closeness and the former's president influence on his policies. Prabowo denied this accusation multiple times, the most recent being during the same 17th anniversary event of Gerindra Party, which he responded to by saying " Ndasmu! " ("Your head!") with a mocking tone and facial expression. Such reaction attracted criticism from the public as being childish and confrontational towards his opposition.
  
  Meanwhile, during protests on 17 February, Prabowo attended a closed meeting together with his ministers of Red and White Cabinet at Istana Merdeka while discussing various strategic issues such as prevention of online gambling. They were also seen having lunch together. At the same time, all eight fractions of DPR agreed to officially ratify the proposed revision of Mineral and Coal Law in 13th plenary session on 18 February. One of the proposed change to the law was to allow universities and colleges across Indonesia to receive mining permits and become involved in mining. Proponents of this change from the government argued that this will lower cost of tertiary education, while academics and students criticized the change as potentially used to silence universities from participating in activism while worsening ecological damage caused by the mining industry. This proposed change was later dropped when the law was passed on 17 February by the parliament the same day the protests erupted.