Observer: No One is Immune to the Law in the Era of President Prabowo

JAKARTA - Indonesian Political Indicator researcher Bawono Kumoro said the detention of four TNI personnel for their alleged involvement in the case of pouring hard water on KontraS activist Andrie Yunus confirmed the supremacy of the law and that no party was immune from the law in the era of President Prabowo Subianto.

The quick action of the Indonesian National Police (Polri) and the openness of the TNI in revealing the perpetrators behind the hard water terror against Andrie Yunus should also be appreciated positively.

"Moreover, this case has also been given special attention by President Prabowo Subianto by ordering the National Police Chief to thoroughly investigate who the perpetrators and intellectual actors behind the terror against Andrie Yunus are," Bawono said in a written statement in Jakarta, Thursday.

Bawono emphasized that the full disclosure of who the perpetrators and intellectual actors behind the hard water terror case were important to dispel various assumptions and wild speculations circulating in the public space, such as the accusation of state involvement behind the terror act against Andrie Yunus.

Such wild assumptions and speculations seem to be trying to be built by certain parties who have the intention to give a negative image to the government of President Prabowo Subianto as an anti-critical and anti-democratic government.

"In addition to dispelling these wild assumptions and speculations, the detention of four members of the TNI for alleged involvement in hard water terror against Andrie Yunus also shows the country's commitment to the continuation of a climate of freedom and democracy in Indonesia," he said.

He emphasized that there should be no violence against anyone in this country because he is critical of something or government policies. In fact, if the violence is committed by TNI soldiers.

"This kind of violent terror action, if it is allowed to happen and fails to be fully revealed by law enforcement officials, will form a negative image perception that the government is blocking criticism and limiting the space for civil groups in Indonesia," said Bawono.

"Therefore, support and supervision of the work of law enforcement officers in uncovering this case must be carried out by us together without being accompanied by excessive assumptions and wild speculation," he said.

Previously, the TNI Military Police Center (Puspom) detained four TNI personnel for alleged involvement in the case of pouring hard water on the Deputy Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) Andrie Yunus.

The commander of the TNI Puspom, Major General TNI Yusri Nuryanto, confirmed that the four people detained by the TNI Puspom were members of the TNI who served in the Strategic Intelligence Agency Headquarters (Denma BAIS) TNI. The four perpetrators have the initials NDP, SL, BWH, and ES.

He said the four suspects are now threatened with Article 467 of the Criminal Code, Paragraph 1 and 2, with a maximum sentence of 7 years in prison.

Yusri ensured that the TNI Puspom would work professionally and transparently, and ensure that all findings of the TNI investigators would be presented openly at the trial.

"The TNI Puspom will work professionally. We will later convey how the stages will start the investigation process, the settlement, and then when the file is handed over to the Military Audit, so that it will be in the trial process," he said.