Jakarta, IO – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) released a report entitled “Police Reform is Just an Illusion” in Jakarta, coinciding with the 78th anniversary of Indonesian National Police (Polri), locally known as Bhayangkara Day, on Monday (1/7).
KontraS revealed that various incidents of violence, abuse of authority and human rights violations appear to be unresolved and are always repeated by police agency.
Through its report, KontraS recorded 645 incidents of violence committed by the police in the period from July 2023 to June 2024 which resulted in 754 injuries and 38 deaths.
“Most of the 460 cases were related to police shooting,” said KontraS coordinator Dimas Bagus Arya.
In addition, KontraS also recorded 75 incidents of violations of civil liberties which included acts of 36 incidents of forced disbandment, 24 arbitrary arrests, and 20 acts of intimidation.
“Instead of acting to maintain order and security among citizens, Polri personnel have become a tool to silence citizens,” said the report.
Dimas said the report was released in order to provide criticism of Polri performance in the field of human rights. “We plan to send a report tomorrow because today the police force is holding a celebratory event at Monas [National Monument],” said Dimas. (un)