Hey everyone,
So, a quick and kinda heavy announcement. You might remember I posted a special chapter for Indonesia's Independence Day two weeks ago and went on a bit of a rant. Well, things have gotten... intense here since then. And I need to talk about it now because it might affect my upload schedule.
Many of you have probably seen the news by now, but for those who haven't, massive demonstrations started in Jakarta on the 25th, right in front of the DPR building (that's our House of Representatives, basically our parliament). The protests peaked on the 27th.
The "funny" – and by funny, I mean absolutely infuriating – part is that the DPR members themselves got an official circular telling them to Work From Home because of the big protests happening at their own workplace. I mean, come on. People traveled from all over the country to voice their concerns to their representatives, only to find out those reps weren't even there.
On the same day, the police "advised" protesters not to go live on TikTok or Facebook. Our digital communications authority, KOMDIGI, said they would summon Meta and TikTok because of "fake" and "divisive" information on their platforms about the protests. There was also a leaked circular that essentially "banned" national TV stations from reporting on the demonstrations.
Obviously, by the next day (the 28th), the crowds got even bigger. How could they not? And honestly, that's when things got really chaotic and violent. Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd. Worse, a lot of the tear gas canisters were expired. They even fired tear gas into residential areas, places of worship, and other public facilities.
And true to the leak, almost no national TV stations broadcast any of this.
Tragically, two ojol drivers (that's "ojek online," our ride-hailing and delivery drivers like UberEats or DoorDash drivers on motorbikes) were run over by a police armored vehicle. One of them, a kid born in 2004, passed away. From what we know, he wasn't even a protester; he was just delivering food in the area.
The public outrage grew even more after that news broke. The focus of the protests shifted from the DPR building to the National Police headquarters. The police have since presented seven men as the suspects who were in the vehicle, but during the press conference, people online found out that one of the "suspects" was actually a known convict! Public suspicion is high, as these seven men didn't look or act like police officers at all. Also, Twitter (X) was down for a long time that day.
The news on the 29th was about the funeral of the driver and a dangerous rise in messages inciting people to loot stores, especially those owned by the Chinese-Indonesian community. We also found out several DPR members, like Eko Patrio and Ahmad Sahroni, were caught on vacation in China and Singapore. There were even leaks from airport staff saying they'd "seen a lot" of DPR members "going on holiday" abroad. Instagram also started blocking some posts and stories about the protests.
To make a long story even longer, there's now a leak saying that starting next week (from 31st/1st), all satellite operators in Indonesia might take down the signal for a whole week. That means internet access—both mobile data and WiFi—could be completely shut down. If this is true, it's a blatant attempt by the government to silence the media and control the narrative, especially since international news outlets are covering this.
Watching all this happen feels maddening. The way our government is limiting our freedom to speak, access news, and even use the internet is borderline madness.
So, what does this mean for you guys?
Since the previous leak about the TV blackout turned out to be true, I'm really worried this internet shutdown leak might be true too.
If it does, I am so sorry if my upload schedule gets disrupted. All my ongoing translation projects have drafts of over 100 chapters, so I'm covered for maybe the next month. But after that... well, we'll see. I'm honestly just trying to translate as many chapters as I can in the next two days to build up a bigger buffer.
I truly apologize in advance if my updates suddenly stop or become irregular. I have no idea if this internet shutdown will really happen for a full week, or even longer.
Thanks so much for your understanding and patience. Please stay safe, wherever you are.
Lots of love,
—Reiya