Riot police stand guard on Aug 22, 2024, during a protest outside the House of Representatives building in Jakarta against controversial planned revisions to the Regional Elections Law. - Reuters
JAKARTA: Indonesian police were allegedly involved in dozens of extrajudicial killings resulting in the deaths of 31 people, indicating a lack of progress in police reforms, Amnesty International Indonesia said on Monday (Dec 9).
Amnesty recorded at least 116 cases of alleged police violence between January and November this year, including 29 cases of extrajudicial killings resulting in 31 fatalities.
One of the latest cases was in late November when a police officer allegedly shot and killed a student in Semarang, Central Java. An officer has been detained over the case.
The case garnered national attention after local police claimed an officer had taken the action to disperse a student brawl, but Central Java police's head of internal affairs Aris Supriyono told lawmakers in a hearing last week that the shooting was not connected with dispersing a brawl.
Cases of police violence, which include torture, improper use of tear gas and arbitrary arrests, showed the lack of systemic progress in reform of the Indonesian police, said Amnesty Indonesia's executive director Usman Hamid.
"If added with a series of police violence widely discussed by the public, it is clear that this year, 2024, does not show any improvement in the police's system," Usman said.
The National Police did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.
Amnesty also recorded other cases of police violence throughout the same period, including, 28 cases of intimidation and physical violence as well as 26 cases of torture.
More than 500 people were subject to police violence including arbitrary arrest, physical violence and improper use of tear gas between August 22 and 29 during demonstrations against changes to election rules in 14 cities across the archipelago, Amnesty recorded.
"This showed how policing currently becomes authoritarian-repressive, not democratic-humanist policing as promised or mandated by law," Usman said.
Rights groups have accused Indonesian security forces of operating in a culture of impunity. - AFP
