Komnas HAM Announces Investigation Results Of Wadas Village, Mahfud: No Violence As Described On Social Media

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD (Photo: Public Relations Documentation of the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD spoke about the findings of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) regarding alleged violence by police officers in Wadas Village, Purworejo, Central Java during land surveying for andesite mines on 8 last February.

He said the findings of Komnas HAM actually strengthened his statement about the absence of violence as in the video that was widely circulated on social media.

"No Komnas HAM findings change or cancel my statement that 'there is no violence as depicted on social media'," Mahfud said as quoted from his Instagram account, Friday, February 25.

"On social media at that time, it was described that people were shot, some were beaten up, some didn't dare to go home, so they just called from hiding in the forest, but didn't want to say which forest they were in because they were afraid of being arrested. hospitals, there are patrol cars carrying sniffer dogs, and so on," he added.

Not only that, he also said that Komnas HAM's findings also confirmed the previous statement. One of them, is the absence of gunfire from the police so that there were no victims as a result of the incident.

"(Violence, ed) was not found in Komnas HAM's findings. In fact, several points found by Komnas HAM (eg points 4 and 8) confirmed that there were no gunshots, no casualties, no hospitalization, etc., "said Mahfud.

Even so, Mahfud said the government would continue to follow up on the recommendations made by Komnas HAM. Moreover, the government asked this agency to conduct an investigation.

"For example, in order to carry out inspections and internal control of officers who violate the SOP. God willing, it will be done after the subject, object, and event are clear," he said.

However, the former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) said that until now there has been no official and complete report submitted to Komnas HAM. Thus, the follow-up on these findings still has to wait.

"We have not received an official and complete report from Komnas HAM because we only received the press release. For example, who was the victim, how serious the injury was, at what time and in which sector it occurred, so that the officers who were on duty there at that time could look for it," said Mahfud. Previously, Komnas HAM Commissioner Beka Ulung Hapsara said an excessive use of force was found by the Central Java Police while securing land measurements in Wadas Village.

"That on February 8, 2022, there was an excessive use of force by the Central Java Police, which was marked by the deployment of large numbers of personnel and acts of violence during the arrest process," Beka said when releasing the findings of the investigation on Thursday, February 24. .

This conclusion was obtained from a series of results of monitoring and investigations carried out by the team that was dispatched to Wadas Village. Although the Central Java Police said that only 250 personnel were deployed, 50 of whom were dressed in civilian or plain clothes, but the accompanying statement stated that the number of officers deployed was in the thousands.

From this investigation, Komnas HAM also found the fact that there were acts of violence experienced by residents who resisted andesite mining activities at the time of the incident. Where the perpetrators, from witness statements and videos, are police officers dressed in civilian clothes or thugs.

"The Indonesian National Human Rights Commission found that there were acts of violence during the arrests by the police on Tuesday, February 8, 2022 against Wadas residents who refused to quarry. As a result of these acts of violence, a number of residents suffered injuries to their foreheads, knees and calves, and pain in their legs. several other body parts, but none of the victims were hospitalized," said Komnas HAM Commissioner Choirul Anam on the same occasion.

"From the identification of the perpetrators, the majority of violent acts were carried out by officers in civilian clothes/thugs during the arrest process," he added.