Civil groups denounce military-style training for detained Jakarta student protesters
Civil society organisations have condemned a government decision to send students arrested after a Jakarta protest to a ten-day military training program in Bogor, calling it intimidation and a human-rights breach.
After a protest on Aug. 27 outside Jakarta’s parliament, authorities detained dozens of participants and transferred at least 27 of them to a ten-day National Defense Training Program for the Indonesian Republic Cadet Corps (KKRI) at a military facility in Bogor, West Java. Governor Pramono Anung said the scheme, created by a 2026 decision of the Primary and Secondary Education Ministry and supported by the Defence Ministry, aims to build nationalism, discipline, leadership and civic responsibility among high-school students.
Civil-society groups have sharply criticised the measure, labeling it part of a broader trend toward the “remilitarisation” of civilian life and accusing the state of intimidation and human-rights violations. The students, taken into custody by the Jakarta Police’s Directorate for the Protection of Women and Children and the Eradication of Trafficking in Persons (PPA-PPO), also include youths from Bekasi, Depok, South Tangerang and Tangerang. The controversy highlights tensions between security-focused policies and democratic protest rights in Indonesia.
Why it matters
The case raises concerns about the use of military training to suppress student dissent and its impact on civil liberties in Indonesia.
How the sides frame it
LOW AGREEMENTLeft-leaning coverage centers on a Bandung student protest over governance and disaster response, while centrist coverage condemns a military-style training program for detained Jakarta protesters, labeling it a remilitarisation of civilian life.
LEFT
Frames the story as a student-led emergency protest highlighting ecological disasters and government budget shortcomings
CENTER
Frames the story as civil-society backlash against a militarised training scheme, calling it intimidation and a human-rights violation
The left emphasises
- students staged an emergency protest at the Dago-Cikapayang intersection
- banners and speeches highlighted recurring ecological disasters and inadequate mitigation
- criticism of a budget focused on populist programs that fail to improve public welfare
In this story
