Army Strategic Reserves Command's Intelligence Assistant Meets with Protesters, Crowd Disperses in Front of the Kwitang Mobile Brigade Headquarters

JAKARTA - Protesters in front of the Mobile Brigade Corps (Mako Brimob) in Kwitang, Central Jakarta, dispersed after conveying their demands through mediation by the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI).

Asintel Kaskostrad Brigadier General Muhammad Nas, along with the Commander of Battalion A Pelopor of the Mobile Brigade Corps (Brimob) of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police, Commissioner Anton Asar, and Marine Officers were seen engaging in dialogue with representatives of the crowd, which was dominated by online motorcycle taxi drivers.

After negotiations, the crowd dispersed towards Senen, Central Jakarta. A number of protesters were also seen congregating not far from Mako Brimob Kwitang.

Asintel Kaskostrad Brigadier General Muhammad Nas revealed that the protesters were expressing their concerns regarding the death of an online motorcycle taxi driver on Thursday night.

"Essentially, the community is conveying their first demand: that the process of prosecuting the alleged perpetrator of the fatal collision be transparently opened and the legal process be made public," said Brigadier General Muhammad Nas, accompanied by the Commander of the Mako Kormar Command, Lieutenant Colonel Fauzi Safii, to reporters at the location, as quoted by KompasTV's YouTube channel, Friday, August 29.

"Second, if there are residents or protesters still being detained, ask them to be released. I don't know yet. After this, I'll ask the Mobile Brigade Commander," he added.

"The point is, what our community and all our residents have said has been heard by our leadership and will be followed up," Brigadier General Nas emphasized.

He added that his team asked the crowd to disperse, "representatives will come here later, so not all of them will be there."

"Regarding security, if things are like this (conducive), there will be no more security. We'll provide security 24/7," he said.

"God willing (it's safe)," said the Assistant for Intelligence of the Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kaskostrad).

"The key is one: if you agree with what we said earlier, everything is safe," he said.

Asked if there would be no more protesters this afternoon, "God willing, there won't be any. They already said so," he said, adding, "Hopefully, they won't (shift to another location)."

"We will remain with the people, we will accommodate the people's wishes and convey them to our leaders," he concluded.

It is known that since Thursday night, crowds from various groups have been gathering at the Kwitang Mobile Brigade Headquarters in Central Jakarta to demand transparency after an online motorcycle taxi (ojek) driver was killed after being run over by a Brimob tactical vehicle. The incident occurred after a clash erupted in front of the MPR/DPR/DPD RI building, which then spread to several areas.

Joint forces from the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) and the Marines, who were dispatched to the scene, successfully quelled and calmed the protesters. After the crowd dispersed, sanitation workers, along with Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) soldiers and online motorcycle taxi drivers, cleaned the streets around the Kwitang Mobile Brigade Headquarters.