From the Street to the Policy Table: How Far Away is Indonesia in Achieving Meaningful Youth Participation?
On August 18, 2026, just one day after Indonesia celebrated its 81st Independence day, hundreds of university students gathered at Bundaran HI to protest the government under the banner #MerebutKemerdekaan. However, this isn’t the first time a mass protest by youth and civil society happened ever since the current administration took office. The protests are centered on the frustration on the fact that policies being implemented today (including but not limited to PSN, MBG, and Koperasi Desa Merah Putih) are not economically benefitting the society they are meant to serve. Instead, rice and basic commodities prices have risen, and so has the price of fuel– making the middle and lower classes increasingly unable to make ends meet. Seeing the recurring protest by the youth, I see this as a way for youth yearning to be heard in the process that produces these policies, because when youth are excluded from policymaking, the street becomes their only space where they can participate.
The Participation Gap
The urgency to push for a meaningful youth participation is due to the fact that Indonesia is home to 64,16 million young people. This accounts for the 23% of the population according to BPS data in 2025. Meanwhile, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) reports showed that there are only 3.6% of the parliamentarians under 30. Even youth representative under 40 have also shrunk to 15% (from 16% in 2019). This represents an extremely steep gap between the youth population and youth who take a role in the public policy making process. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found that 57.5% of those young parliaments are tied to political dynasties, meaning they become member of the parliaments because they have a relative who joined the political party already. This makes it more difficult for youth who wants to become a policy maker without political family ties, and keeping merit-driven youth away from being decision makers.
This is particularly troubling in a country that upholds the idea of democracy. Because in a democratic government, they bear a fundamental responsibility to create policies by the people, for the people and of the people. When youth which strikes at 23% of the populations are structurally excluded from that process, it is not just a participation problem. It is a democratic deficit.
It was through my work at the Blue Ocean Strategy Fellowship (BOSF) that this gap became impossible to ignore. Blue Ocean Strategy Fellowship is an Indonesian thought leadership program that focuses on public-private cooperation, innovation, and applying value-innovation frameworks to government and societal challenges in Indonesia. Throughout 2023, we applied our “Blue Ocean” frameworks alongside prominent government leaders including, the Minister of Marine and Fisheries Affairs and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. Through these fellowship programs, we realized that even the most sophisticated public-private cooperation remains structurally incomplete without its most vital pillar: our youth.
But what does it truly mean for youth to meaningfully participate in policymaking and how do we measure whether we are achieving it?
The UN Core Principles and UN DESA Policy Brief explains the answer. Meaningful youth participation requires three things– accessibility, agency and impact. To assess accessibility, we must pay attention to whether or not youth enter policy spaces by merit. To assess agency, we must see if youths are only passive listeners or an active agent of policymaking, and lastly, a positive impact from a meaningful youth participation would mean that the input from youth actually influence the decision making, and the policies made are there to actually address pressing issues using youth-led solutions. To further assess where Indonesia stands in achieving meaningful youth participation, I will evaluate Indonesia against these three principles.
Closing the Gap: BOSF’s Approach
During the fellowship with the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Affairs, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, BOSF initiated an IDEA PITCH Challenge 2025. This challenge allows university students in Indonesia to pitch their ideas regarding Fisheries Governance to combat Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. We believe that the creation of the IDEA PITCH agenda is proof of our effort towards democratizing access for youth participation.
As we realized that this youth involvement is important, BOSF carried this approach forward to our fellowship with the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs– Arif Havas Oegroseno. We then initiated a Youth ESG in Maritime Innovation Challenge where youth across Southeast Asia can partake in this challenge to create innovative solutions using our Blue Ocean framework on how the marine industry can comply with the ESG Standards. By opening an open-call online ideation challenge across Southeast Asia, this approach creates a more open and merit-driven space for a diverse array of young people, resulting in over 200 submissions. Following a competitive selection process, we flew the top 16 finalists to Jakarta. This reflects BOSF efforts in fulfilling the principle of accessibility and resourcing as we covered the travel expenses and the accommodation that finalists require, in accordance with the UN Core Principles for Meaningful Youth Participation Document (2026).
Beyond access, the ESG Innovation Challenge also advances the criterion of agency. When high school and university students are given the floor to present their solutions directly to a sitting Vice Minister and industry leaders, participation is no longer symbolic — it is structured, substantive, and intergenerational.
If skepticism remains about whether youth can contribute in creating a positive impact to maritime policy, one only needs to look at the quality of ideas that emerged. Youth finalist from five countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines) submitted solutions ranging from biodegradable bamboo engineering to IoT-powered marine monitoring systems and circular economy models for coastal fishing communities. These young people engineered policy-ready innovations, and the winning teams received funding to continue developing them. We believe that funding the winning projects is another concrete step toward meaningful youth participation as it moves youth from the discussion table into the economic arena, driving entrepreneurship and job creation within the blue economy.
What Must Change
The protests held at Bundaran HI yesterday were not asking for revolution. They were asking for a seat at the table where decisions about their lives are being made. The gap between youth on the street and youth in the policy room is precisely what BOSF has been working to close, one ministry at a time.
We do not claim to have transformed the entire system. To be frank, Indonesia is still far from achieving meaningful youth participation. However, through our fellowship programs, we have shown that when governments are willing to open the door, youth are ready to walk to give meaningful input. The 2022 UNDP report also shows that countries with active youth participation in policy making produce 20% more policies that directly address youth-specific issues and promote inclusive development. The evidence is clear. Youth are ready, the system is not.
To close this systemic barrier to meaningful youth participation, we propose three recommendations. Firstly, instead of inviting youth to join one-off challenges, an establishment of a permanent Youth Advisory Board will ensure a sustainable mechanism for including youth in every stage of decision making. Secondly, merit-based pathways into policy roles such as Tenaga Ahli postions should be prioritized in order to ensure competence and prevent political dynasty. Thirdly, public reporting from each ministry on what they did with the youth input is necessary to track accountability and to achieve a meaningful youth participation.
So the next time students take to the streets, I hope it is not because the policy table has no seat for them, but because they helped build it.
