Discussion Forum: Indonesia's Protests, State Violence, and the Legacy of 1965

In August 2025, angry demonstrations broke out across Indonesia. Initially sparked by politicians giving themselves an extra AUD4,700 per month, economic hardship, inequality and elite arrogance saw street protests spread to over 30 cities in Indonesia and beyond. Anger against the arrogant displays of wealth by elite politicians was so great that protesters demanded entry into the parliamentary compounds in Jakarta and other cities.

The police tried to stop this and the situation evolved into mass confrontations between protesters and police – the latter armed with tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannon and truncheons. Across Indonesia thousands were arrested and many wounded. As highlighted by the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), there at least three detainees whose whereabouts are unknown.

Significantly, these actions emerged almost 60 years after the seizure of power by the military-led “New Order” regime of Suharto (1968-1998) amidst a campaign of mass killings and violent destruction of the Indonesian left and ending of all open ideological contestation in political life. This forum will analyse the recent protests, paying particular attention to 1965, the New Order and social roots of state violence in Indonesia. Moreover, it will look at the political legacy and implications of 1965, asking how people's sentiment can be organised into a movement for change.

Speakers:

Max Lane

Max Lane has been engaged with Indonesia for over 50 years. In the 1970s, he translated W.S. Rendra’s play The Struggle of the Naga Tribe, which was performed in English in Australia and Malaysia. He spent time with Rendra’s group, Bengkel Teater. In the 1980s, he worked in the Australian Embassy in Jakarta when he started translating Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s This Earth of Mankind and its three sequels, together now known as the Buru Quartet. He was withdrawn from the Embassy by the Australian government for translating these banned books. He later translated Pramoedya’s novel Arok Dedes and historical work, The Chinese in Indonesia.

In the 1990s, Max actively supported the democracy movements in Indonesia and East Timor and as a journalist wrote hundreds of articles about Indonesia. Since the early 200os, has written several books on Indonesia, including Unfinished Nation: Indonesia Before and After Suharto, Catastrophe in Indonesia, An Introduction to the Politics of the Indonesian Union Movement and Indonesia and Not, Poems and Otherwise: Anecdotes Scattered. His new book Indonesia Out of Exile: How Pramoedya’s Buru Quarter Killed a Dictatorship is being released in Singapore by Penguin Books in November, 2022.

Elisabeth Kramer

Dr Elisabeth Kramer is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences UNSW, a Scientia Fellow and an ARC DECRA Fellow (2023). Elisabeth’s research interests is the intersection between politics, policy and interest-based advocacy, with a focus on Indonesia. She currently holds two Australian Research Council grants focused on therapeutic opioid policy and use and the political dynamics of tobacco regulation in Indonesia.

Elisabeth's first monograph The Candidate's Dilemma: Anticorruptionism and Money Politics in Indonesian Elections(Cornell University Press, 2022) delves into the lived experiences of candidates to offer a nuanced study of how the political and personal intersect when it comes to money politics, anticorruptionism, and electoral campaigning in Indonesia.

Moderator:

Afra Suci

Afra Suci is a researcher, digital rights advocate, and project leader with over 15 years of experience in nonprofit work and youth-focused research. She co-founded Pamflet in 2012 and a digital literacy for youth initiative named KEMUDI in 2015. With Pamflet, Afra conducted a comprehensive study on Youth Policy in Indonesia and coordinated a number of youth and civic engagement projects.

Afra currently serves as Regional Project Manager at Digital Defenders Partnership (DDP), leading digital security initiatives for civil society. She is also part of Pamflet Generasi Association board members and works as a consultant for digital safety and literacy projects. She is also a Research Fellow at the Asia Research Centre Universitas Indonesia. Her research explores youth issues, new media digital culture and currently delves into the interplay between digital infrastructure and civic rights.

Time and date: Monday 22 September 6pm

Location: Madsen Seminar Room 331, Sydney University