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Crowds in Indonesia have broken into and looted the home of finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati as protests spread across the country amid a deepening political crisis.
In the early hours of Sunday, a number of people entered Sri Mulyani’s residence near Jakarta and looted belongings including chairs and paintings, according to videos broadcast by local media. On Saturday, crowds raided the homes of three members of parliament.
The protests were triggered by a new housing perk that will see MPs receive an additional $3,000 to their monthly salary, but they also reflect growing economic discontent in a country hit by manufacturing job cuts and declining spending power for middle-class consumers.
The demonstrations became heated when a motorbike taxi driver was killed after being run over by a police vehicle during a rally in Jakarta on Thursday. Chaos has since erupted in several cities, including Makassar, where three people died during a fire at a regional parliament building.
President Prabowo Subianto had ordered the police and military to act firmly against “anarchism”, national police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo said at a press conference.
The president has cancelled a planned trip to a security summit in China in order to monitor the situation.
Public anger has so far mainly been channelled against parliamentarians, despite the president’s populist economic policies, which have involved big cuts to public spending to finance a programme of free school meals.
In Jakarta, bus stops and toll gates have been burned, causing disruption, and protesters continued to gather in some locations.
“We the lowly people are deeply disappointed with those sitting on the top,” said one protester, 56, who gave his name as Azis.
Crowds targeted the quarters of three parliament members, whose responses to criticism they regarded as particularly arrogant or insensitive.
One politician from the National Democratic party, Ahmad Sahroni, had previously called protesters “idiots” for wanting to reform the parliament. Hours after, looting of the minister’s residence was reported.
Sri Mulyani was appointed by the previous administration of Joko Widodo and has served as finance minister since 2016. Formerly a managing director of the World Bank, she is well respected as a technocrat in the financial and international communities.
However, she has been in the spotlight since her office approved the Prabowo efficiency plan, which led to public spending cuts in areas including transfers to regional governments.
Shares on the Jakarta stock exchange closed down 1.5 per cent on Friday while the rupiah slid 0.8 per cent against the dollar.
