00:00Crowds eluting the Prime Minister's residence in Bangladesh, a Parliament building being torched in Nepal,
00:06or protesters jumping on the bed of the President of Sri Lanka.
00:10Young people have been rising up across South Asia in a movement many are now calling the South Asian Spring
00:15in reference to the Arab Spring that saw governments across North Africa toppled.
00:20In the last few weeks, young Asians in Indonesia and Nepal have overthrown or shaken those in office,
00:25with demonstrations in Jakarta growing after a young delivery driver who found himself in the middle of a police crackdown on a protest
00:32was killed by an armoured vehicle.
00:35Well, to get more insight into the reasons behind those protests and the strength of them,
00:39we can speak now to senior researcher at the Centre for International Research here in France, Mr. David Cambrou.
00:45Thanks for your time in joining us here on France 24.
00:48Can I start by asking you to tell us a bit more about what is bringing these young people to protest in such numbers?
00:55Well, there are immediate causes and there are underlying causes.
01:01The immediate causes, for example, in the case of Indonesia, were an attempt by the President, President Prabowo,
01:10to allow the military to take on civilian roles.
01:13There was a fear in Indonesia that this was a return to the dictatorship of President Suharto,
01:21his former father-in-law, which ended in 1998.
01:27So there is this underlying concern in Indonesia about the return of the military.
01:32But overall, as in Indonesia, as in Nepal, the underlying cause has to do with the aspirations of a younger generation.
01:43In Nepal, the unemployment rate is about 21 percent amongst young people.
01:48It's similar in Indonesia.
01:50Many young people are in the informal economy.
01:53And what has occurred, what is different this particular time is we now have a more educated, younger population whose aspirations are being thwarted.
02:06They're better educated, but they can't find the kind of jobs that are commensurate with their educational level and their educational schools.
02:14And so there's no sort of nowhere, you know, getting out of this.
02:21In the case of the Philippines, where there also have been protests, young Filipinos tend to immigrate.
02:26Ten percent of the Filipino population lives overseas.
02:29That's not the case in Indonesia nor in Nepal.
02:32So there's not that possibility.
02:34Plus the aggravation by what they see as an out-of-touch elite who are corrupt,
02:42who are, you know, have lavish lifestyles.
02:47And so this disparity between the aspirations of young people and what they see as an out-of-touch corrupt elite
02:57only requires a small kind of spark to lead to massive protests.
03:05So it occurred in Indonesia with the killing of an equivalent Uber driver in Nepal.
03:14It occurred when they banned social media, the government banned social media and tried to get the military to intervene.
03:21So, you know, the authorities don't really know how to deal with this sort of younger generation in an area of social media
03:32where there's a possibility of communicating with each other, which didn't exist decades ago.
03:38We did see an initial crackdown on most protests, and that just seemed to embolden this young generation rather than silence them.
03:48That's right, because it brought back memories of things we'd rather turn the page on.
03:55In Indonesia, the Yovifra Desuatu regime in 1998, where it also involved the killing of students.
04:02So, yeah, so that aggravates the protests.
04:04I mean, when you create martyrs in an inflammatory situation, you really are looking for trouble.
04:13Do you think that these protests, I mean, we've seen a number of leaders stepping down,
04:17but do you think they'll lead to real change in these countries?
04:24If there are ways of political expression, for example, in Thailand, there is a political movement
04:30which seems to represent a young people called, now called the People's Party, used to be called.
04:36It's a failure to see that the political system as such can offer solutions.
04:43So, if there can be found a way within the existing political system for the aspirations of the younger generation to be heard
04:52and for them to be represented, then things may calm down.
04:56But if the only way of dealing with protests is simply through repression, then the situation can only worsen.
05:03You mentioned there briefly the use of social media to these young people.
05:08Can you tell us a bit more about the impact that's having on these demonstrations?
05:13Well, in the case of Nepal, there was an attempt to ban social media, and the government had to sort of backtrack on that.
05:21In the case of Indonesia, particularly in the Philippines, which are incredibly, you know,
05:28the links on social media are incredibly strong in those countries.
05:32And so, the ability to communicate and to organize through social media is something we've seen also in France
05:41that changes the whole nature of, perhaps not the nature of demonstrations,
05:48but the level of involvement in demonstrations is far greater because of the capacity to be able to bring people together through social media.
06:01Also, you know, the conveying of messages and images, of course, you know, the kidding of this driver example in Jakarta,
06:10that also through social media, that inflames the situation as well.
06:15Indeed, Mr. David Kamaru, we'll have to leave it there.
06:16Thanks so much for your time.
Comments