What is going on if you don’t mind my asking? Our local news does not mention anything. Nor does ddging help? Any sources?

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nograpes 9 days ago | parent [-]

Massive protests have occurred due to obvious government corruption. In particular the housing allowance for a month for a parliamentarian is now ten times the minimum wage for a month.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/26/indonesia-prot...

Sorry I don't have a better freely accessible source, maybe someone with more knowledge can fill it in.

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jacobgkau 9 days ago | parent [-]

> the housing allowance for a month for a parliamentarian is now ten times the minimum wage for a month.

I'm almost positive that everyone in the US Congress is making at least ten times the minimum wage in this country. The "housing allowance" being referred to is separate from their normal salary in Indonesia, but still, interesting to imagine how much more seriously people there would take that disparity than in many other countries.

This caught my attention more:

> Indonesia passed a law in March allowing for the military to assume more civilian posts, while this month the government announced 100 new military battalions that will be trained in agriculture and animal husbandry. In July the government said the military would also start manufacturing pharmaceuticals.

They're replacing civilian industry with military, apparently not out of any emergency requirement but just to benefit the military with jobs (and the government with control over those sectors) at the expense of civilian jobs.

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ToValueFunfetti 9 days ago | parent [-]

The ratio between Indonesian parliamentary income and the median Indonesian income is ~18x, while the ratio in the US is ~4x. As someone who wants US congressional income to be substantially higher, it's hard for me to be upset at that on its own. There are plenty of other variables at play, though, and a direct comparison of these ones might not be getting at the issue.

	▲	sebastiennight 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Not American, but you got me curious here: > As someone who wants US congressional income to be substantially higher Would you mind sharing your rationale on this one? I've heard people advocate for parlementary to be a volunteer position, but never heard the arguments for the opposite take.
	▲	jacobgkau 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> As someone who wants US congressional income to be substantially higher, Why would you want that, just to decrease the incentive for congressmen to try and get money from elsewhere while on the job?