On August 28, just before inequality protests spread like wildfire across Indonesia, the police blocked a peaceful climate march on the streets of Jakarta. Indigenous peoples, farmers, fisherfolk and people in wheelchairs carrying fairly innocuous signs that read, “Save the Earth! Save generations!” were pushed back by the police and prevented from reaching the State Palace, a frequent demonstration site.

Even though climate advocates formally notified authorities of the march, held to urge the passage of a Climate Justice Bill, demonstrators still got a small taste of aggressive police tactics. These police tactics turned deadly later in the week in fiery youth-led protests against lawmaker perks, in which at least 10 people were killed and thousands detained.

There’s no sugarcoating what many Indonesians feel about the recent violence: anger but also dread and fear. We are a nation of survivors, having faced the brutality of a military dictatorship that lasted three decades and killed an estimated 500,000 to one million civilians. Our collective skins bear the scars of authoritarian rule, which still tingle. But we’ve also never allowed guns and tear gas to silence us – which is why civil society has pushed initial demands to scrap lawmaker perks even further.

Now, people no longer want just piecemeal responses that try to put the lid on boiling rage. They want thorough reforms that would address the sources of pent-up anger: low wages and rising costs of living while oligarchs and big corporations bleed the people dry. This is scarcely a new narrative. But as the fiery protests show, people have to draw the line at some point.

The climate movement, too, is drawing the line. We too are tired of being ignored while the planet keeps heating up, our rainforests are being cut down, “green” mining is driving Indigenous peoples from their land, and coal plants keep running despite repeated pledges by our leaders to phase them out.

Indonesia is among the world’s top 10 emitters. It is also home to some of the world’s largest – and last remaining – carbon sinks. Both reducing emissions and protecting natural resources are crucial to keeping the planet cool and protecting the people from even more devastating climate impacts.

But instead of using these resources wisely for wealth redistribution and sustainable national development, our leaders have repeatedly been accessories to corruption and environmental plunder that benefit cronies and big corporations at the expense of the people and the planet.

Next week, President Prabowo Subianto is expected to appear at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. It is the first time in a decade that an Indonesian leader will attend the forum. It is clear that the president wants to make his mark as a global leader of significance. But his ambitions can’t shine in the dark. To earn credibility and prove that his military past does not define his current leadership, he must first ensure that human rights are respected at home.

Prabowo has made exceptionally strong statements on climate commitments. At the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro last year, he announced plans for the early retirement of all coal-fired power plants within 15 years. Even more dramatically, he said in July that Indonesia could achieve 100 percent renewable energy within the next 10 years.

But more than statements, we need action embodied in concrete plans and ambitious emissions reduction goals. Indonesia’s latest climate pledge, the Second Nationally Determined Contribution, which the government aims to submit before Prabowo’s UN speech, will be a litmus test – just like how he responds to demands for justice and reform.

Meanwhile, as inequality deepens, the climate crisis rages on. Extreme floods, longer droughts and more intense heatwaves may hit us all, but their impacts are not equal. The poor and the working class are the ones suffering the most as they lose their livelihoods, their homes and, now, even their most basic human rights. And unless we act with urgency and courage, our children will inherit a planet where survival itself becomes a privilege, not a right.

There can be no climate justice without human rights. Whenever there’s injustice, we must put up a good fight – whether it concerns the climate or social injustice.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.