Jakarta. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani issued an apology on Monday after having her house ransacked twice during nationwide protests on dissatisfaction towards the government.

Indonesia has witnessed waves of protests centered on increases in lawmakers’ financial perks and the death of a delivery driver by a police tactical vehicle. Sri had her Bintaro home looted as the protests escalated. Some senior lawmakers, including Ahmad Sahroni, also had people swarming their homes to loot their stuff.

The minister wrote a lengthy Instagram post following the incident, inserting screenshots of press headlines of her house getting ransacked. She thanked everyone, including Indonesian netizens, small businesses, and students, “for their suggestions, sarcasm, and even insults”.

“We apologize. There must have been many flaws. If God is willing, we [the government] will continue to make improvements,” Sri wrote on her Instagram post.

She also wrote how any law was a collective work between the government, lawmakers, and people in an “open and transparent manner”. The minister then urged the public to adopt a more legal approach rather than resorting to violence.

“If the public is dissatisfied and feel the law has violated their constitutional rights, they may propose a judicial review at the Constitutional Court,” Sri Mulyani said.

Indonesians may also take the case to the Supreme Court. Sri Mulyani added, “This is Indonesia’s civilized democratic system. It is not yet perfect. Our job is to improve the quality of this democracy in a civilized manner, not with anarchy, intimidation, and repression.”

“Let’s protect and save Indonesia together, not by destroying, burning, looting, slandering, dividing …” Sri Mulyani said.

The protests also sparked rumors of Sri Mulyani resigning from the cabinet -- something that Chief Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto had denied, according to local media reports.

“It’s not true that she [Sri Mulyani] will step down. She even attends the cabinet meeting,” Airlangga recently told reporters at the palace.

Add as a preferred source on Google +