The Sun Always Rises from Pati
Leony Sondang Suryani
Kania Putri Rahmadiani
“Scream!
With your hands up in the sky
Like you wanna testify
For the life that’s been deleted
Scream!
Like a rebel’s lullaby
Under the stars and stripes
For the lost souls that were cheated”
The lines from Revolution Radio by Green Day have become a daily anthem, especially in moments of deep frustration with the situation in Indonesia, and in Southeast Asia. They speak of screams born out of suffocation, of voices erased yet never truly silenced. Across the region, from Cambodia to Myanmar, Thailand to the Philippines, we are constantly confronted with shrinking civic space, governments deaf to our cries, and leaders unapologetically abusing their power, which leads to arrogance and authoritarianism. Such occurrence is precisely what is now unfolding in Pati, Indonesia: the cries of people, fed up with the arrogance of those in power, erupting into a massive demonstration.
It all began with the policy of the Regent of Pati, which on May 18, 2025, decreed an increase in the Rural and Urban Land and Building Tax (PBB-P2) by as much as 250 percent (Kumparan, 2025). The decision, which arose from an “intensification meeting” with subdistrict heads and Pasopati, immediately stirred unease. The justification of “an adjustment after fourteen years,” wrapped in the jargon of infrastructure and public service, sounded to the people less like fairness and more like an excuse. The most painful aspect was that it failed to consider the people’s ability to pay. Resistance began to spread—residents confronted the regent, questioning whose side he was truly on. Was this the first demonstration? No. Protests had been staged time and again. Yet the local government kept its eyes shut.
Tensions reached their peak on August 5, 2025, when the Civil Service Police Unit (Satpol PP) forcibly dismantled the donation post of the United People of Pati Movement at the town square. Boxes of bottled water, contributions from ordinary citizens, were seized, sparking shouting matches and shoving (Detik, 2025). From that moment on, the embers of resistance could no longer be extinguished.
Instead of waning, the people’s solidarity only swelled. Donation posts sprang up everywhere, with thousands of boxes of bottled water lining the streets as a symbol of collective awakening. Even when the Regent finally revoked the 250 percent policy on August 8, the masses did not simply disperse. They felt that what was being opposed was not merely a tax rate, but the arrogance of power itself. Furthermore, on August 13, 2025, hundreds of thousands flooded the town square. What began as a peaceful demonstration turned into turmoil; tear gas was fired, the gates of the regent’s office were torn down, windows were shattered, and vehicles were set ablaze (Tempo, 2025). Eleven people were arrested, dozens injured (Kompas, 2025), yet one message remained: democracy in Pati was not dead, it had only just risen again.
Absurdly, after the donation drives and massive demonstrations, the central government washed its hands of the matter, with the presidential spokesperson declaring that this had nothing to do with national policy—directly contradicting the Regent of Pati’s own statement that the tax hike had been coordinated all the way up to the Ministry of Home Affairs (Tempo, 2025). Perhaps this is what emboldened him to so brazenly declare in the media (Liputan6, 2025):
“Siapa yang akan melakukan penolakan? Jangankan 5.000, 50.000 orang suruh ngerahkan. Saya tidak akan gentar, saya tidak akan merubah keputusan. Tetap maju.
….Yang saya lakukan adalah YANG TERBAIK UNTUK PEMBANGUNAN KABUPATEN PATI, BAGI MASYARAKAT PATI.
(Who will dare to oppose? Even if you mobilize not just 5,000 but 50,000 people, I will not flinch, I will not change my decision. We move forward.
…What I am doing is THE BEST FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PATI REGENCY, FOR THE PEOPLE OF PATI.)”
That statement was not merely a challenge; it was an insult to the people who had elected him. He belittled the people’s power when united. Not stopping there, he even refused to resign, clinging to the simple excuse that he had been “constitutionally elected.” Such arrogant words could only ignite anger and cynical laughter. For this is the face of an authoritarian leader, hostile to criticism, detached from the people, and standing on the illusion of power. The irony is bitter: the very people he now dares to challenge are the same people he once courted with sweet promises and a crafted image of compassion. The same people he burdens with tax after tax. The same people who gave him victory in the 2024 local election, with 53.53 percent of the votes, or 419,684 ballots (Kompas, 2025). These are the very people he has now betrayed, simply because he believes his power and policies are untouchable.
We will not discuss the tax itself here, but let’s talk about the reality of democracy in Indonesia. This portrait of arrogance by the Regent of Pati is far from the first example of powerholders’ hubris in our country. One recent instance was the Minister of Culture’s statement on dismissing the “rumors” of mass rapes of the 1998 Uprising, disregarding previous research and the people’s collective memory (Jakarta Post, 2025). It would also be premature to forget the Ministry of State Secretariat’s response to the “Indonesia Gelap” (“Dark Indonesia”) Demonstration held at the beginning of 2025, which disregard the public concern about state affairs and instead urged the public to be more understanding of the performance of the then-new President’s cabinet (CNBC, 2025). Additionally, a former Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment responded to the same demonstration by denying that Indonesia was not, in fact, dark; if anything, “it’s you”, referring to the concerned Indonesian masses (Tempo, 2025). They dare to cloak themselves in the phrase ‘for the sake of development and the people.’ But which people are they really talking about? Whose people?
Democracy is not implemented merely for procedural legitimacy. It stands on the realization of the vox populi, vox dei – the voice of the people is the voice of God (Tawney, 1918). This long-standing belief has been the backbone of how democracy persists as many nations’ fundamental principle, prioritizing the people’s needs and will. As a nation that holds democracy at its core by embedding it in the five principles of Pancasila, Indonesia ought to return to this root and prioritize the voice of the people. However, vox populi, vox dei needs to be implemented with caution, as it may then instead pivot to populist policies. The desire to gain the people’s votes through populism shall not take away from the main reason why the support itself is crucial, which is that policies shall be born out of meaningful participation for the sake of the people, not out of arrogance. Prioritizing the people’s will requires careful consideration and supervision to benefit the people’s welfare (Schlozman, 2003). In light of this, those who hold authority ought to bear in mind that power without the legitimacy of the people is plain old arrogance.
On the night of August 17, there was a painful contrast. Eighty years ago, the Indonesian founding fathers fiercely debated their preparation of the proclamation, accompanied by the sound of Sayuti Melik’s typewriter striking Indonesia’s history. They spoke of independence, of a sovereign nation. Meanwhile, we, the heirs of that struggle, are haunted by a bitter yet straightforward question: what, in truth, do we celebrate nowadays? Is independence merely about contests and carnivals while the people’s voices are silenced? Or is independence instead the courage to reject arrogance, to speak for justice, and to keep democracy alive?
That spirit now rises from Pati. Not only from the hundred thousand who flooded the town square on August 13, but also from the thousands of cartons of mineral water stacked along the streets, from the bunches of bananas carried on weary shoulders, and from the harvests brought in turn as signs of participation. All of these are symbols that an enraged person never truly stays silent. The strength to resist authoritarian power extends beyond the bodies physically present, living in every small donation collected and in every hand that refuses to be muted, even if unable to take to the streets. Pati has proven that the people’s voice, the people’s strength, never disappears. It merely lies dormant for a moment, awaiting momentum, awaiting a single act of courage that will ignite another, like a small flame spreading into a blaze. From Pati, to another city and regency, and another province. And perhaps, even beyond Indonesia’s borders.
The struggle unfolding in Pati is not isolated; it echoes the wider Southeast Asian reality. Across the region, people are confronting the same patterns of authoritarianism, the narrowing of civic space, and the silencing of dissent. In Myanmar, citizens risk their lives to oppose military rule. In Cambodia, opposition voices have been systematically dismantled. In the Philippines, disinformation and corruption continue to erode public trust. And in Thailand, pro-democracy protests reveal how fragile freedoms remain under entrenched elites.
Seen in this light, Pati becomes more than a local story; it is part of a regional narrative of people refusing to be muted. It shows that democracy in Indonesia and Southeast Asia is not sustained by formal institutions alone, but by the courage of ordinary citizens to resist, to speak, and to demand accountability. The flame from Pati may seem small, but as with any act of defiance, it carries the potential to inspire others across borders, reminding us that people’s power is never truly extinguished.
And at that point, we must dare to say that demonstrations, movements, the people’s efforts to speak out, are by no means acts of betrayal against the nation nor driven and supported by corrupt elites and foreign interests, as policymakers so often claim. Quite the opposite, resistance against tyranny is proof of true nationalism. Nationalism is not a flag raised upon the podium of power, nor is it the jargon of development that blinds itself to suffering. Nationalism is the courage of the people to resist oppression, to defend their dignity as citizens, and to demand the promises they once heard when electing their leaders. What has unfolded in Pati is not merely an outburst of disappointment or a fleeting surge of anger, but a struggle for a better Indonesia, and a reminder that genuine patriotism, in Indonesia and beyond, lies in protecting democracy and people’s sovereignty wherever they are under threat.
The rallies and demonstrations in Pati are a seed of many more spaces for the people to rise and fight for their quality of life, not just in Central Java, or even Indonesia, but across Southeast Asia and the rest of the world. They echo the struggles of citizens in Myanmar protesting military dictatorship, Thais challenging lèse-majesté and military-backed rule, Filipinos grappling with disinformation, and Cambodians silenced under one-party dominance. Across the region, people face the same pattern: governments shrinking civic space, branding dissent as betrayal, and cloaking repression in the language of stability and development. What has unfolded in Pati thus becomes part of a broader Southeast Asian story, a reminder that despite waves of disappointment and injustice, the sun of democracy can still rise, ignited from even the smallest corner of the region.
Dirgahayu Indonesiaku, long live democracy and the people’s power of Pati.
Reference
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