Nicholas Ryan Aditya, Dani Prabowo, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) recorded 12 incidents of violence committed by members of the TNI (Indonesian Military) in the first 100 days of the administration of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
"(During the 100 days of Prabowo) there were 12 incidents of violence involving members of the TNI", said Kontras Coordinator Dimas Bagus Arya during a press conference at the Kontras offices in Central Jakarta on Monday January 20.
"Unfortunately, not one of these violent incidents found a fair resolution", he added.
Arya did not provide details on all of the incidents of violence committed by the TNI, but highlighted some of the incidents that attracted a lot of public attention.
For example, in early January there was the fatal shooting of the owner of the CV Makmur Jaya car rental company, Ilyas Abdurrahman, at the Tangerang-Merak toll road rest area. The shooting was carried out by members of the Navy (TNI AL) and three TNI soldiers have since been named suspects.
Then there was the attack by TNI members on a village in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra.
"The incident of violence (by the TNI) took the form of an attack on nine people of the Cinta Adil Village, Sibiru-Biru district, Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra, carried out by members of the TNI from the Medan 2 Artillery Battalion/2105 Kilap Sumagan on November 8, 2024", added Arya.
"It was recorded that at least eight residents suffered serious injuries and one person died as a result of the attack", he continued. Following the bloody incident, as many as 50 TNI soldiers were questioned and 25 of them were named suspects.
The government, according to Kontras, needs to pay greater attention to these cases of violence by the TNI that continue to occur.
"Furthermore, we see that cases involving TNI soldiers have not been running optimally because the resolution has been carried out through the mechanisms of military justice", Arya said.
"According to Kontras' records, military justice tends to provide mild punishment, is unable to guarantee the principles of a fair trial, independence and judicial impartiality", he continued.
136 cases of police violence
Kontras also recorded 136 incidents of violence committed by the National Police (Polri) during the 1st 100 days of the current government. Arya said that not one of these incidents was resolved fairly.
"We documented approximately 136 violent incidents involving members of the police", Arya said at the press conference on Monday.
Arya did not provide details of the cases one by one, where and when they occurred, but noted several cases of police violence that have attracted public attention.
These included the killing of a high school student in Semarang, Central Java, named Gamma R. Oktafandy on November 24, who died after being allegedly shot by a police officer.
"And second, the case that occurred when there was extortion at the DWP [Djakarta Warehouse Project on December 13-15] by police against foreign tourists who attended the DWP concert", Arya said.
Third, Kontras noted that violence was also committed by the police against demonstrators. For example when student protesters held a demonstration in Jakarta opposing an increase in value added tax (VAT) to 12 percent.
"For example, the actions against the protest over an increase in VAT to 12 percent. The student action was related to public policies, which was also repressed very, very repressively by the police", he explained.
Kontras hopes that with this report, the public will be more critical and criticise law enforcement institutions.
Furthermore, Arya believes that the hundreds of cases of violence by the police over the first 100 days of the new government shows that the Prabowo administration had not been able to make any improvements or even significant reforms to the law enforcement process.
"These are big cases and encouraged the public to be critical and then criticise law enforcement institutions", he concluded.
[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski based on two articles by Kompas.com on January 20. The original title of the lead article was "100 Hari Prabowo Gibran, Kontras Catat 12 Kekerasan TNI Terjadi".]
