Calls mount to probe police over student deaths during Indonesia protests

Three youngsters died after mass protests across Indonesia against new laws last month, with at least one allegedly suffering from a gunshot wound by police in Southeast Sulawesi

Lawyers and activists are calling for an independent probe into whether officers violated a code of ethics that bans them from carrying firearms when policing rallies

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Indonesian students run from police shooting tear gas during a protest outside the parliament building in Jakarta in September 2019. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:00am, 16 Oct 2019Updated: 11:22am, 16 Oct 2019

Activists and lawyers for the families of two university students who died of injuries sustained during last month’s mass protests against new laws in Indonesia have urged President Joko Widodo to launch an independent investigation into police conduct.

They say that at least one of the men died from a shot fired by police in the city of Kendari, southeast Sulawesi, and that officers had violated a code of ethics that bans them from bringing firearms to demonstrations.

Sukhdar, a lawyer for the two families in Kendari, said a fact-finding probe was essential as police had not yet completed their investigations after almost three weeks.

“We urge the president to create an independent team. It’s not that we don’t trust [the police], but it has been too long with no answers,” he said.

Randi, 21, who went by one name, died on September 26 from a wound to his chest although doctors did not confirm if it was from a live bullet or rubber bullet, while Muhammad Yusuf Kardawi, 19, died two days later. The cause of Yusuf’s death was blunt force trauma to the head although an NGO, the Commission for Disappeared and Victims of Violence (Kontras), claimed that according to eyewitness accounts, Yusuf was also shot at.

A third student, Akbar Alamsyah, died in Jakarta last week after being in a coma for two weeks. Police said he fell on his head while trying to scale a fence on September 25 outside the national parliament building but other reports suggested his body showed signs of blunt force trauma.

The protests were provoked by new laws critics in the Muslim-majority country said would reduce the independence and capabilities of the national Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and affect rights and free speech by criminalising sex outside marriage and “insulting” the president. The bills – which parliament could not push through before its term ended on September 30 save for the KPK bill – would also have given companies more control over land and natural resources.