Indonesian President Prabhupada Subianto canceled his planned visit to China on Saturday as protests spread outside the capital, Jakarta, and several regional parliamentary buildings burned.

Prabhupada was originally scheduled to take part in the "Victory Day" parade held in China on September 3 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II after Japan officially surrendered.

The protests are the first major test for the Prabhupada government in a year, starting this week in Jakarta, fighting for lawmakers' salaries and worsening after a police car struck a motorcycle rider.

"The president wants to continue to directly monitor [the situation in Indonesia]... and seek the best solution," presidential spokesman Prasetyo Hadi said in a video statement on Saturday. "The president therefore apologizes to the Chinese government that he was unable to attend the invitation."

In light of the protests, TikTok, a Short Video app owned by ByteDance, said on Saturday that it had suspended its live broadcast feature in Indonesia for several days. Jakarta summoned representatives of social media platforms including Meta Platforms Inc and TikTok this week and told them to step up content censorship because of the spread of false information online. The government said such false information sparked protests against it.

Sudden protests

Earlier on Saturday, protesters started fires in district council buildings in three provinces: West Nusa Tenggara, Pekalongan City in Central Java and Cirebon City in West Java, local media reported. Protesters looted parliament office equipment in Cirebon and police fired tear gas to disperse protesters in Pekalongan and West Nusa Tenggara, local media Detik.com said.

The Indonesian disaster management agency said Friday that a parliamentary building in the capital of South Sulawesi was attacked by fire, killing three people.National news agency Antalya said the victims were trapped in a burning building, and the disaster management agency said two people jumped out of the building and were injured after escaping the fire.

Local media metrotvnews.com that a fire broke out at the Garsi Parliament building and another person died.

Protests also took place on the resort island of Bali, where tear gas was used against protesters. Local media also reported that a group of people looted the Jakarta home of NasDem party lawmaker Ahmad Sahroni and looted items including household furniture. Saroni reacted indifferently to those calling for the dissolution of parliament due to anger over lawmakers' allowances. Saroni labeled these critics "the dumbest people in the world".

The president ordered decisive action.

After a private motorcyclist was accidentally hit and killed by a riot car, demonstrations in Indonesia spread from the capital Jakarta to several provinces and cities. The parliament building in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province, was set on fire by protesters on Friday night, killing at least three people. Several other provincial and municipal councils were also damaged. Indonesian President Prabowo ordered the military and police to take decisive action to curb the disorderly behavior of demonstrators who vandalized public property.

Demonstrators in Indonesia reported further casualties after they stormed the city council building in Makassar on Friday night, leaving three people trapped in the fire. Two were killed at the scene and one died in hospital.

Rahmat Mappatoba, secretary of Makassar City Council, told AFP on Saturday (30th): "At that time, the situation was beyond expectations. Generally, there were demonstrations, and protesters would only throw stones or burn tires in front of office buildings. There had never been an incident of breaking into the parliament or throwing Molotov cocktails to set fire before."

Of the three dead, two were city council employees and the other was a civil servant; At least five other people were injured in the fire and hospitalized for treatment.

In view of the escalation of demonstrations in many places in Indonesia, Prabowo summoned Listyo Sigit Prabowo, the chief of police, and Agus Subiyanto, the commander-in-chief of the Indonesian National Army, on Saturday, and ordered them to take decisive action to deal with the disorder in several areas.

As he left the presidential residence, Mr. Ristyo told the media that protests in several areas had escalated into riots in the past two days, and that "these are no longer expressions of demand, but criminal acts," and that uniformed personnel would take immediate action to restore public safety.

The situation is indeed very worrying

People in Jakarta gathered outside the Indonesian People's Congress (the House of Commons) on Monday (25th), demanding a dialogue with parliamentarians, and expressing their opposition to parliamentarians receiving a monthly housing allowance of 50 million rupiah (about S $3,911), which is equivalent to 10 times the monthly income of the minimum wage in Jakarta.

Parliamentarians did not talk to the public at the time, causing protests to continue, and the situation ended up out of control on Thursday. On the same day, videos of the deaths of private-called bicycle rider Affan Kurniawan were circulated, and the protests quickly spread from Jakarta to other provinces.

Prabowo went to Afan's home on Friday night to express his condolences. According to nearby residents, he stayed there for about 10 minutes.

The following afternoon, Indonesian People¡¯s Congress chairman Puan Maharani and Jakarta District Chief Pramono Anung also greeted Afan¡¯s home.

The reporter asked Puan at the scene why she and other MPs had not responded to the demands of protesters outside the Indonesian Parliament Building and had a dialogue with them. Puan did not respond positively, saying only: "We are evaluating all factors."

Asked whether the housing allowance for 50 million rupiah would be scrapped, Puan said: "It has been said before that the allowance will only last until October this year."

According to Indonesian media reports, protesters in Jakarta gathered outside the lower house of parliament on Saturday, as well as outside the headquarters of the Quedang Mobile Force in Jakarta's Central District and the Jakarta City Police Headquarters. In addition, several local police stations were surrounded by demonstrators, including one in the east where Molotov cocktails were thrown.

De Mello, portfolio manager at GAMA Asset Management, told Bloomberg that the situation in Indonesia was "really very worrying." "We expect this to increase the volatility of the Indonesian rupiah and overall Indonesian assets as markets reassess political risk and policy continuity."

In an attempt to calm the storm, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and President Prabowo's Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) issued separate statements over the weekend, promising to cancel or re-examine controversial benefits such as housing allowances for lawmakers.