Students question data center resources while pressing lawmakers to act on six demands.
A student demonstration in Batam has brought together local concerns over water-intensive data center development and broader demands for government accountability. BEM SI Kepri says it wants concrete follow-up, not simply signatures and promises.
Around 70 Students Rally at DPRD Batam
Dozens of students from the Riau Islands chapter of the All-Indonesia Student Executive Board, or BEM SI Kepri, demonstrated outside the Batam City Council building on Friday, October 23, 2026. The protest was part of their evaluation of the first two years of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka’s administration, while also raising issues specific to Batam.
Students Question Water Supply for Data Centers
One of the strongest local concerns involved the water used by Batam’s growing data center industry. Students called for greater transparency regarding the source and volume of water used by the facilities and questioned the status of sea water reverse osmosis, or SWRO, infrastructure intended to process seawater. Students acknowledged they had not established that data centers were directly taking water needed by residents, but argued that technical information should be disclosed so the claims could be verified.
Six National-Level Demands Submitted
Beyond the data center issue, students submitted six groups of demands covering the Free Nutritious Meals program, Red and White Village Cooperatives, the National Education System Bill, forest and land fires, national economic stability, and the Sekolah Rakyat program. The students called for improvements and evaluation rather than the blanket removal of government programs they considered problematic in implementation.
DPRD Chairman Signs Student Demands
Batam City Council Chairman Kamaluddin met the demonstrators before inviting them to continue discussions inside the council building. He signed the document containing their demands and said the aspirations would be forwarded to Indonesia’s House of Representatives. Kamaluddin clarified separately that his signature represented the council’s responsibility to receive and channel public aspirations rather than an automatic endorsement of every demand.
Students Demand Concrete Follow-Up
BEM SI Kepri representatives stressed that they did not want the demonstration and signed document to become merely ceremonial. They called on lawmakers to ensure the demands reach the national legislature and are processed further. On the data center issue, Kamaluddin also said authorities must consider Batam’s clean-water availability so investment does not disrupt supplies needed by residents.
The demonstration places transparency at the center of Batam’s debate over development, public infrastructure, and government programs. For Indonesians, the students’ demands focus on whether policies and major investments can be openly evaluated and improved. For Singaporeans and other regional observers of Batam’s expanding digital economy, the debate also highlights growing public attention on how infrastructure-intensive investment is managed alongside community needs.
Sources: Batampos (2026) , Tribun News (2026)
Keywords: Batam Data Center, BEM SI Kepri, DPRD Batam, Data Center Transparency, Batam Water Supply, Student Demonstration
