Jakarta Metro Police Arrest 301 'Kawal Putusan MK' Protesters

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta Metro Police arrested 301 people during the "Kawal Putusan MK" protest against the Regional Election Law in front of the House of Representatives building yesterday, August 22. This was confirmed by the force's PR chief Sr. Comr. Ade Ary Syam Indradi.

"There were 301 people arrested by the Metro Jaya Police, the Resort Police of East Jakarta, Central Jakarta and West Jakarta, as well as sectoral police forces," Ade Ary said at his office on Friday, August 23.

He said 301 people were arrested on suspicion of destroying public facilities of the DPR and committing acts of violence against members on duty.

"The individuals were arrested for disturbing order, vandalizing, ignoring and even committing violence," he said.

On Thursday, thousands of people, consisting of students, workers, activists, academics and artists, protested against the DPR's decision to ratify the revision of the Pilkada Law, which disregards the Constitutional Court's ruling. 

On August 20, Constitutional Court decision number 60/PUU-XXII/2024 changed the threshold for nominating regional heads from the previous rule of 25 percent of the votes received by political parties or a coalition of political parties or 20 percent of the DPRD seats to only 6.5-10 percent of the votes according to population.

The Constitutional Court also set the minimum age for gubernatorial candidates at 30, and for regent or mayoral candidates at 25, at the time the individuals are nominated as candidates by the KPU.

But just one day after the Constitutional Court issued its ruling, the DPR's legislative body revised the Pilkada Law, reinterpreting the threshold to apply only to parties that do not have seats in the DPRD. The DPR also declared that the minimum age limit for regional chief candidates would apply at the time of their swearing-in ceremony, sparking public anger.

Komnas HAM: Authority Uses Excessive Force to Disperse Pilkada Law Protesters

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) deplores the way the authorities dispersed the demonstrators during a protest against the revision of the Pilkada Law that took place at the DPR building complex on Thursday, August 22. The commission believes that the officers may have used excessive force.

"We regret the way the police dispersed the demonstration by using tear gas, beating several protesters, and the involvement of the TNI, which was alleged to have used excessive force," said Komnas HAM Monitoring and Investigation Commissioner Uli Parulian Sihombing on Thursday, August 22, 2024.

Komnas HAM closely monitored the demonstrations at two locations, the Constitutional Court and the DPR buildings. Meanwhile, the demonstrations outside Jakarta are being monitored through media broadcasts.

According to Komnas HAM, the protest that took place from 09:00-17:00 was peaceful. However, the situation became chaotic after 5 p.m., sometimes before or after the police began firing tear gas at the crowds.

"The security forces began to use tear gas and violent means to disperse the demonstration after the masses managed to knock down one of the gates of the DPR," Uli said.

In fact, he said, TNI officers were also involved in securing the demonstration. As of 8 p.m., 159 protesters had been arrested and detained at Polda Metro Jaya, according to a report to Komnas HAM by the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI).

Adil Al Hasan contributed to this article.

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