Amnesty International Indonesia has called on President Prabowo Subianto to replace National Police (Polri) Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo amidst rampant ethical and procedural violations in the police force.
Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid, said that there have been frequent incidents of violence committed by members of the police institution, but with limited or inadequate investigation as follow-ups.
“The National Police chief himself said a fish rots from the head down. Indeed, there were incidents of violence by police personnel when there were mass protests held in 14 cities [in August 2024] against the planned enactment of the draft Law on Regional Elections by the House of Representatives. [The police personnel’s violence] is indeed his responsibility,” Usman spoke to Indonesia Business Post on Wednesday, December 11, 2024.
According to Amnesty International data, 579 civilians had become victims of police violence during the August 22-29, 2024 protests held in a number of provinces. The international human rights organization also noted that in the period of January-November 2024, there were a total of 116 cases of violence committed by police officers in various regions in Indonesia.
Of these cases, there were two outstanding cases that have drawn widepread public discussions in the last one or two months, namely the police shooting incident at vocational high school students in Semarang on November 24, 2024 and the case of police officer shooting at another police officer in South Solok, West Sumatra, on November 22, 2024.
State of emergency
Usman said Amnesty International therefore declared the country in a state of police violence emergency, while citing that police violence has repeatedly occurred and caused tremendous casualties. He blamed the lack of transparency and no firm punishment against the perpetrators and high-ranking police officers involved as the main causes of the recurrence of police violence.
He said further that police violence must be seen in a larger context as a policy taken by the police’s top brass and not just limiting such incidents as violence committed by officers on the field.
He suggested comprehensive reform within the police force, not only limited to the implementation of SOPs for handling peaceful protests. He also called for an evaluation of police performance by putting human rights as the parameter.
“The emergency of police violence has awakened all of us that it is time for supervision and control over police authority to be carried out by all elements of the society, including civil society groups. Everyone knows that we not only need a police force that protects but also guarantees the public to freely express their voices and views. The police should learn from history that the independence it has achieved today is the result of the extraordinary struggle of all civil society movements in the late 1990’s era,” Usman said.
