A Japanese anime has unexpectedly become a symbol of resistance in Indonesia, as young people lean into popular culture to speak out against corruption and ineffective governance. The viral protests come as space for dissent in the world’s third-largest democracy shrinks.
Young Indonesians are using the nation’s 80th independence anniversary on Aug. 17 to mark their dissatisfaction with President Prabowo Subianto’s government. Elected in 2024, he still enjoys enviable approval ratings, but disenchantment with his administration is growing in the archipelago once heralded as the poster child of democratic transformation in Southeast Asia. In the last decade though, that progress has stalled.
AloJapan.com