Mahfud MD Issues Statement on Deaths of 6 FPI Members

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law, and Security Mahfud MD on Monday asserts that a fact-finding team will not be established by the government in response to the deaths of six Islam Defenders Front (FPI) members in a clash with police officers many believe as an act of extrajudicial killing.

“The deaths of the FPI members will be solved. If there were human rights violations committed by the police then they will look into it. But the government will not form a TGPF on the matter,” said Mahfud MD in a live virtual event on Monday, December 28.

Mahfud argued that Indonesia’s Law No.26/2000 on human rights courts states that this issue is under the jurisdiction of Komnas HAM or the National Commission on Human Rights. He then strongly urged the human rights watchdog to commit to the investigation that is currently undergoing. 

“I have met with Komnas HAM and let them do the investigation. I assured we will not interfere,” Mahfud claims. “If they need police’s escort then we will help.”

The government has not issued any official statement regarding the deaths of six FPI members under the hands of police personnel. Mahfud MD’s statement is the first officially representing the government’s stand on the issue since the incident happened on December 7.

Read: Komnas HAM to Publish Investigation Result of the Shooting of 6 FPI Members

EGI ADYATAMA