Indonesia protests: US$54.8m losses estimated; criminal charges urged against 7 officers over ride-hailing driver’s death
The country’s police watchdog has recommended both ethics hearings and a criminal probe against the seven officers involved in Affan Kurniawan’s death, saying the dual process is needed to ensure transparency and justice.
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s National Police Commission (Kompolnas) has recommended criminal charges and ethical sanctions for the seven Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officers involved in the death of delivery rider Affan Kurniawan last week.
Affan, 21, was run over by a Brimob tactical vehicle on Aug 28 while doing a delivery during a violent protest in central Jakarta. He was not part of the protest.
Demonstrations have erupted across Indonesia since Aug 25 as citizens oppose increased allowances for Members of Parliament and push for other reforms.
The move by Kompolnas, an independent police watchdog, signals growing pressure on the National Police to pursue accountability beyond internal discipline.
Kompolnas stressed that ethics and criminal proceedings must run in parallel to meet the public’s demand for justice.
Kompolnas commissioner Mohammad Choirul Anam said on Tuesday (Sep 2) the officers should not only undergo internal ethics hearings, which could lead to dismissal, but also an investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department.
“The two processes must run side by side, not wait for one another. The potential ethics sanction is dismissal, while the potential criminal charge will be pursued by the Criminal Investigation Department,” said Anam, as quoted by Metro TV, after overseeing an internal review at the police headquarters.
The dual track of ethics and criminal accountability should serve as a stern warning for officers to act more carefully in the field, Kompolnas said.
“Law enforcement must be professional, transparent, and fair, in line with public expectations so that such cases do not happen again,” Anam said.
The closed-door review session, held by the National Police’s Professional and Security Division (Propam) from 9.30am to 1pm, concluded that the officers’ actions contained elements of criminal offence. Propam itself cannot press charges but can forward evidence to investigators.
Those facing proceedings include Chief Brigadier Rohmat, the driver of the tactical vehicle, Police Commissioner Cosmas Kaju, the unit commander seated next to him, as well as five others at the back of the vehicle. They are Police 2nd Sub-Inspector M Rohyani, Police 1st Brigadier Danang, Police 1st Brigadier Mardin, Senior Patrolman Jana Edi and Senior Patrolman Yohanes David.
Cosmas is scheduled for an ethics hearing on Wednesday, while Rohmat will face his on Thursday. All seven officers were placed under special detention for 20 days on Aug 29.
DEATHS, DAMAGE AND ARRESTS
The protests in Indonesia have killed 10 people and resulted in over 1,680 arrests, said the National Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday. Its figure on the number of arrests differs from the Jakarta Metro Police, which stated that 1,240 people have been arrested.
At least 20 people are missing in the wake of the protests, according to the human rights group Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, or KontraS.
The protests have resulted in nearly 900 billion rupiah (US$54.8 million) in losses, Indonesia’s Public Works Minister Dody Hanggodo said on Tuesday. This includes damage to infrastructure such as the Regional House of Representatives buildings, toll gates and bus stops.
Dody said East Java province and Makassar in South Sulawesi experienced the highest losses. The latter saw three deaths from the Makassar legislature building being set on fire, and a motorcycle taxi rider being beaten to death outside the city’s Indonesian Muslim University after being mistaken for an undercover police officer.
Dody said his ministry has prepared an emergency budget to support the repair of infrastructure damaged during the protests.
More protests took place in the capital on Wednesday, even as Jakarta Police announced six people, including two civil society figures, had been arrested for allegedly instigating violent protests outside Indonesia’s parliament complex.
The arrested civil society representatives are Lokataru Foundation’s executive director Delpedro Marhaen and its researcher Muzaffar Salim, reported Indonesian news outlet Kompas.
The Jakarta Police reportedly said the six suspects played “active roles” in mobilising students and encouraging violence, but the Lokataru Foundation has called the arrests an attempt to scapegoat rights advocates.
The hundreds of women who rallied peacefully in Jakarta on Wednesday carried signs calling for police reform and brooms symbolising the need to “sweep the state’s dirt … and the repressiveness of security forces”, according to protest organiser Alliance of Indonesian Women, reported The Jakarta Post.
