Amnesty International Indonesia reported on Monday ( Dec. 9 ) that Indonesian police were allegedly involved in dozens of extrajudicial killings that resulted in the deaths of 31 people, which suggests that there had been little progress in police reforms.
Between January and November this month, Asylum documented at least 116 alleged police violence, with 31 mortality in 31 reported extrajudicial killings.
In Semarang, Central Java, one of the most recent cases occurred in late November when a police officer reportedly shot and killed a scholar. A police commander has been in custody in connection with the incident.
Local authorities claimed an agent had staged the incident, but Central Java officer’s head of domestic affairs Aris Supriyono claimed at a hearing last week that the killing had not been related to the dispersal of a fight.
Cases of officers murder, which include torture, inappropriate use of tear gas and random arrests, showed the lack of widespread progress in transformation of the Indonesian policeman, said Amnesty Indonesia’s senior director Usman Hamid.
” If added with a series of police crime commonly discussed by the public, it is obvious that this year, 2024, does not show any development in the officer’s system”, Usman said.
The National Police did not respond to AFP’s request for comment right away.
In addition to the 28 instances of real and physical violence that Amnesty documented, there were 26 instances of abuse.
Amnesty documented that more than 500 people were the targets of officers violence, including random arrests, real assault, and improper usage of tear gas, between August 22 and August 29 during demonstrations against changes to election laws in 14 cities across the island.
” This showed how police now becomes authoritarian-repressive, no democratic-humanist police as promised or mandated by law”, Usman said.
Rights groups accuse Indian security forces of working in a regime of impunity.