The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) launched a report titled "Human Rights Catastrophe" ahead of the 77th International Human Rights Day commemoration, highlighting the deteriorating human rights situation during the first year of the administration of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
Kontras Coordinator Dimas Bagus Arya stated that over the past year, a major and massive catastrophe has occurred in human rights enforcement. "The state continues to be absent, continues to be negligent in carrying out its obligations to protect, respect, as well as uphold human rights", he said at the launch of the report in Jakarta on Tuesday December 9.
Hopes for resolving gross human rights violations fading
Kontras noted three main reasons for the fading hope of resolving gross human rights violations. First, Prabowo, who remains a suspected human rights violator in the abduction of pro-democracy activists in 1997-98, has never included a commitment to resolving past human rights violations in his Asta Cita program.
Second, there are political obstacles in the form of granting honorary titles and national hero titles to alleged perpetrators of human rights violations. "Pak [Mr] Prabowo has awarded hero titles to almost everyone the public suspects of human rights violations, from [former president] Suharto, [Defence Minister] Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, [former General] Wiranto, [former General] Agung Gumelar to [former Intelligence Agency Chief] AM Hendropriyono", explained Arya.
Third, the weak infrastructure of human rights courts is due to a loophole in Law Number 26/2000, which separates the investigative function of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) from the criminal investigation/prosecution function of the Attorney General's Office.
4,291 arrested, police the main perpetrators
According to Kontras records, 4,291 people were arrested in violations of freedom of assembly and expression throughout 2025. Seventy percent, or 3,337, were arrested during the huge mass demonstrations in August-September, known as "Ash August".
"For almost a year now, the Indonesian National Police have been the most dominant perpetrator of civil liberties violations with 178 incidents", said Arya.
Kontras also recorded 471 victims who were injured by police violence and 46 reports of missing persons during the August demonstrations, with 34 of them experiencing short-term enforced disappearances. "Some were even taken to a secret location before being taken to police stations", he added.
Remilitarisation and expansion of the TNI's authority
The Kontras report highlights the ratification of revisions to the Indonesian Military (TNI) Law, which is considered to have been a setback for security sector reform. The law expands the TNI's authority in military operations other than war (OMSP), including cyber enforcement and the protection of Indonesian citizens abroad.
"In the Pak Jokowi [former president Joko Widodo] era, the Republic of Indonesia was called the Police State of the Republic of Indonesia. In the Prabowo era, many say the NKRI [Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia] is the Regional Military Command [Kodam] of the Republic of Indonesia", quipped Arya, referring to the plan to add 33 new Kodam around the country by 2029.
Throughout 2024-2025, 5,406 TNI and National Police (Polri) troops were deployed to Papua, where Kontras recorded 53 incidents of violence against civilians, resulting in 77 injuries and deaths.
Criminalisation of human rights defenders increases
Kontras also documented the criminalisation of human rights defenders, including the arrest of environmental activists Adetya Pramandira and Fathul Munif in Semarang, Central Java, as well as the terror attack on the Kontras office by Kodam intelligence officers in March-May 2025.
The mass media was also the target of intimidation, such as the Tempo's office which was sent packages containing a rotten pig's head and dead rats, as well as intimidation against a Detik.com journalist.
Two days before International Human Rights Day, the Jakarta Metro Jaya Regional Police arrested a social media administrator who called for a demonstration on December 10 on charges of incitement, even though the demonstration had not yet taken place.
Other human rights violations
Kontras also recorded:
- 43 cases of violations of freedom of religion and belief
- 42 incidents of extrajudicial killings with 44 deaths
- 71 acts of torture with 159 victims
- 596 death row inmates in 63 prisons across Indonesia
- That Komnas HAM has delayed declaring the murder of human rights defender Munir Said Thalib as a gross human rights violation
"We hope this report can serve as a reflection and guide for monitoring the state of democracy and human rights enforcement over the next year", Arya concluded.
Kontras' Human Rights Day 2025 Notes are publicly accessible through a link available on the organisation's official website. (Ris)
- The Kontras press release in English on its "Human Rights Day 2025 Report: A Human Rights Catastrophe" can be viewed here: https://kontras.org/artikel/press-release-human-rights-day-2025-report-a-human-rights-catastrophe
- The full report can be viewed here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rp7rnSaR-uIo3PQZHzzhqCyGbtIjb_jG/view?usp=sharing
- The presentation of Human Rights Day Notes can be viewed here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fPPiQi3cy44nOKjZDHcw2Ism5tJ8KHsF/view?usp=sharing
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Katastrofe HAM Makin Menguburkan Kebenaran di Satu Tahun Prabowo".]
