ICW Questions National Police Tear Gas Procurement Worth Rp188.9 billion

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia Corruption Watch or ICW pushed the National Police to disclose its tear gas purchase documents allegedly worth Rp188.9 billion. “[The tear gas] is worth Rp188.9 billion that comes from citizens’ tax money,” said ICW Coordinator Wana Alamsyah on Friday, August 23, 2024.

Wana alluded to the police’s excessive force during Thursday's protest for the #PeringatanDarurat movement. Wana also urged the police to stop firing tear gas at protesters.

Thus, ICW asked the police to disclose their accountability report for tear gas utilization from 2019 to 2024. “And to stop purchasing tear gas until all purchase documents and reports are disclosed to the public,” Wana said. 

He also asked the Central Information Commission to process the information dispute over the transparency of the National Police tear gas procurement. According to Wana, ICW recorded over five instances of tear gas procurement by the police from December 2023 to February 2024. "The tear gas purchase is distributed across two work units, namely the Police's Mobile Brigade Corps and Korbrimob and Sabhara Baharkam Corps," he said.

ICW has asked the National Police to disclose tear gas procurement contracts since August 2023 with KontraS and Trend Asia. However, the police refused to heed the request.

In December 2023, ICW submitted an information dispute to the Central Information Commission which failed to provide any clarity on the case thus far.

"Based on ICW's investigation, the National Police provided the information on purchased ammunition in one of the five procurement packages, which was 38,216 bullets. Meanwhile, in the other four procurement packages, there was no detailed information available on the number of bullets purchased by the Police," he said.

BAGUS PRIBADI

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