Protest over increase in legislators’ salaries in Indonesia leaves 3 dead and 5 injured

Jakarta.- At least three people died and five more were injured in a fire at a government building sparked by protesters in Indonesia, an official source said on Saturday, amid growing protests in the Asian country against salary increases for deputies. «Three people were declared dead, allegedly after being trapped inside the room when the fire broke out» in Makassar, in the central area of the Indonesian archipelago, said the head of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of the city, M. Fadli, to the state agency Antara. The conflagration was recorded on Friday night, according to Antara, when a mob gathered around a government building in Makassar and the protesters threw Molotov cocktails at the building.

Fatal fire amid protests in Indonesia

The deceased were trapped in a room, while several of the injured jumped from the building to escape the flames, according to the report. In addition to Makassar, Indonesia experienced violent protests the night before in several parts of the country. In the capital, protesters burned vehicles around a police station, Antara reported, while five other police stations were attacked in other areas of Jakarta.

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The violence on Friday night continued the clashes during the day between the Indonesian Police and hundreds of protesters in Jakarta, after a young man lost his life in another skirmish on Thursday.

Protests over Legislators’ Salaries

The mobilizations began last Monday, when it was learned that, due to an increase in the budget of the House of Representatives, now its 580 members would receive a salary equivalent to 14,000 dollars or about 12,000 euros.

This means that the income of the deputies will increase by 33% this year, reaching an average of 230 million rupees per month, in a country where millions of people earn 3% of that amount for a month’s work, according to the Indonesian media Tempo. The news has generated a barrage of criticism on social media and has motivated this wave of protests, which demand, among other things, the dissolution of the Chamber, installed in October 2024.