If there’s one thing the internet seems to have done magnificently for the new generation, it’s being able to mobilise their peers, leading to significant movements and student protests across the world.
These students are typically referred to as Gen Z, which loosely encompass those born from 1997 to 2012. Compared to their predecessor generation, they would grow up in a more established digital ecosystem, giving them greater exposure and access to the wider web, though they may not be as technically literate.
Nonetheless, in the past 3 months in 2025 in Asia alone, there have been lmultiple arge scale protests where students make up a significant portion of participants, their finesse in social media allowing them to raise awareness far better than they could have done solely through traditional media.
Indonesia
On 25 August 2025, protests erupted in the country over economic frustrations and a proposed hike in housing subsidies for members of parliament. The Rp 50 million (~US$3,057) proposed monthly allowance is roughly ten times more than Jakarta’s minimum wage, which in addition to existing food and transportation stipends, sparked public outrage. There were already existing concerns over rising food and education costs, mass layoffs and property tax hikes due to central funding cuts.
Ride-hailing workers also made up a major part of the protests. Known colloquially as ‘ojol’, the internet rose to the occasion to place orders for food and supplies through Grab apps and similar for the riders to share with their fellow riders and protestors in the area. It could be said the movement gained even more attention when Affan Kurniawan, a Gojek-partnered rider, was killed after getting run over by a police armoured vehicle, spurring an outpouring of support from international onlookers decrying police brutality.
Activists called for the fulfilment of the 17+8 Demands, consisting of 17 short-term measures to be implemented within a week, and 8 longer-term measures to be achieved in a year. Indonesian netizens would update their social media profiles to have green, pink, and blue to reflect the colours used by the 17+8 platform, and show their support for the reforms being demanded.
There is no centralised authority for the protestors, though you could look to individual student and labour unions to represent a given area or organisation. Over the course of the protests, government buildings were torched, and houses of members of parliament looted. To date, the 17+8 demands have not been ratified by the government. There have been members of parliament suspended, a cabinet reshuffle and dishonourable discharge for the police commissioner who killed Affan, but not the reforms the protestors are seeking.
Nepal
On 4 September 2025, the Nepalese government ordered the shutdown of 26 social media platforms for failing to register under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology’s new rules. The new rulings were meant to enable enforcement of a new Digital Services Tax and stricter value-added tax on foreign e-service providers in order to boost revenue. Critics allege the shutdown was more on silencing a trend highlighting nepotism and criticising the undue privileges enjoyed by children and relatives of influential political leaders.
Nepal’s median age being 25 meant a large part of the population are Gen Z, with the BBC noting that Nepal has some of the highest social media usage in South Asia. This wasn’t just about a social media ban – their platform to bring awareness on government corruption was getting cut off.
The protests began on 8 September, with peaceful rallies organised by Hami Nepal, a non-government organisation which had primarily highlighted earthquake relief projects. Anil Baniya, an organiser from Hami Nepal, believed the hard government crackdown began when their own Megraj Giri threw a rock at a CCTV camera. Baniya spoke about their peaceful protest getting hijacked by external forces, but regardless, the government should not have responded to rocks with live ammunition.
When protesters attempted to enter the Federal Parliament of Nepal, security forces responded with force. Videos in the aftermath of the crackdown showed victims seriously or fatally wounded, with at least 19 people killed in the ensuing confrontation. Curfews were imposed but protests continued, with leaders and their residences attacked the following day. Government buildings, even the parliament building itself, would be set alight as the protests continued.
It is reported that the primary channel of discussion was through Discord, a social media platform where people can be invited to become members of individual servers/channels – first to organise the protests, then to discuss the interim measures. More than 100,000 users met virtually to debate, discuss, and poll, eventually electing Sushila Karki, a former Supreme Court chief justice, as the interim prime minister and the first female prime minister in Nepal’s history.
Karki would take office on 14 September, condemning the destruction and claiming some of the arson was premeditated, pledging to investigate any conspiracies behind the violence. Monetary compensation of 1 million Nepalese rupees (the maximum allowed by Nepalese law) would be given to any family who lost a member during the protests. Karki herself would announce she would remain in power for no more than six months.
Philippines
Over 3,000 faculty, students, staff and community of the University of the Philippines were part of a “Black Friday” walkout on 12 September, the largest mass gathering action since the COVID-19 pandemic in the university. This was one of the anti-corruption protests across the nation, sparked by investigations into government corruption in flood control programmes. Prior to the walkout, allegations saw Senate President Francis Escudero be replaced by Minority Leader and former Senate leader Tito Sotto on 9 September.
Martin Romualdez, House Speaker in the Philippine Congress, would step down on 17 September, to be replaced by Bojie Dy, as the extent of the alleged corruption was further brought to light. Bulacan State University would stage their own walkout on 18 September, with the largest of protests held on 21 September. 21 September is a significant date for the Philippines, coinciding with the 53rd anniversary of imposition of martial law in the country by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1972 (the televised address declaring martial law was on 23 September).
The 21 September series of mass demonstrations is collectively known as the Trillion Peso March, with church groups, civil society, student organisations, labour unions and political coalitions coming together to demand transparency in the flood control programmes. The allegations involve some 1.9 trillion Philippine pesos spent over the last 15 years, more than half of which is said to be lost to corruption. Protestors would demand arrests of those implicated in the anomalous flood control projects, recovery of wealth, public release of government officials’ Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) and enactments of stronger anti-corruption measures.
In addition to the Trillion Peso March, the Taumbayan Ayaw sa Magnanakaw at Abusado Network with university and activist groups would hold the Baha sa Luneta: Aksyon na Laban sa Korapsyon (“Flood in Luneta: Action against Corruption”, otherwise simply known as Baha sa Luneta) series of demonstrations over the alleged corruption in the government flood control projects, also on 21 September, which saw an estimated 49,000 participants.
The “Asian Spring”
Since the early 2020s, the primarily youth-led anti-government protests across South and Southeast Asia have been unofficially dubbed the “Asian Spring” due to similarities with the Arab Spring. The students of Gen Z have been taking the lead to challenge corruption, nepotism, economic inequality, and authoritarianism, using social media to great effect in order to spread awareness. To that end, affected governments have attempted to ban social media in addition to mass arrests, which usually only serves to further fuel more concerted efforts of affirmative action.
Of course, we can be cynical and say that the student protests have been mixed in getting the results they are seeking. However, we cannot diminish and belittle their efforts that they are willing to risk their lives in order to fight for the future. The youth are rising to speak out, to bring about the change they want to see. Do we not want more assertive people to be in charge, to not be afraid to challenge what they see as injustice? As long as they make their case in a peaceful manner, the youth have their right to use any given platform to stand behind what they believe in.
The youth will not be silenced. The world will have to listen.
Main image credit: David Wadie Fisher-Freberg
