Indonesia’s plans to spend $28bn per year on free meals for schoolchildren have triggered unlikely opposition from students angry at looming spending cuts on higher education.
Thousands of students took to the streets in cities across the country this week, decrying what they call Indonesia Gelap or “Dark Indonesia” and marking the first concerted resistance to the policies of Prabowo Subianto since the former general became president four months ago.
The students oppose Prabowo’s call to slash government spending, including on education, to fund his flagship policies, chiefly the free meals programme, which when fully implemented will reach 82mn people daily.