41 years have passed since the Tanjung Priok incident occurred on September 12, 1984. The lack of justice continues to be felt especially for the victims and families of victims. This event was one of the cases of gross Human Rights violations that occurred during the New Order era of former president Suharto, which was committed by government officials against Tanjung Priok residents.
This tragedy became one of the deepest wounds in the history of the Indonesian people. This incident began with the protest by four residents against the inhuman actions of First Sergeant Hermanu, a Village Supervisory Non-Commissioned Officer (Babinsa) from the North Jakarta 0502 District Military Command (Kodim), who forcibly removed posters criticising the prohibition on wearing a jilbab (hijab) and the sole principle of Pancasila the As-Saadah musholla (prayer room).
The residents' protests were met with a series of indiscriminate acts of violence by the state apparatus such as brutally firing on the masses, pursuing residents into residential alleys and arresting them, forcibly dispersing the masses using an armoured vehicle and committing acts of torture against residents, including the forced disappearances of residents who are still missing to this day.
According to National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) documents, at least 79 people fell victim with 55 injured and 23 victims killed as a result of the incident. A total of 12 soldiers were prosecuted and found guilty by an ad hoc Human Rights Court in 2003. In 2005-2006 however, all of the defendants escaped the legal indictments for the human rights crimes they had committed after the ruling by the first level court was annulled through legal efforts at the appeal level and a Supreme Court appeal.
The annulment of the ruling of the first level court also of course annulled an order for the state to provide compensation, restitution and rehabilitation for the victims and their families as stipulated under Article 35 of the Human Rights Court Law.
As in other cases, the prosecutor failed to reveal the role of the party that planned the incident, was weak in compiling the indictment and failed to provide protection to witnesses and victims. As a result, the disclosure of the truth behind this incident was just allowed to pass, justice in the judicial mechanism simply disappeared, and the reparation that was the responsibility of the state for the victims and families of the Tanjung Priok victims were ignored.
Instead of resolving this case in a fair and substantive manner, we are certainly disappointed and very much regret the regime's false promises under the leadership of former president Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who not only ignored the Tanjung Priok incident in his speech on January 11, 2023, but also showed a systematic effort to whitewash and forget the state's obligations to be responsible for the reparation of the victims and families of the victims.
After the change of regime into the hands of President Prabowo Subianto last year, it feels even harder if we have to entrust the fate of justice and the rehabilitation of the victims and their families to a figure who is a human rights violator and should still be held responsible for one of the past cases of human rights violations. Of course behind the pessimistic expectations of today's president, questions have arisen from the public about whether the state can have a serious commitment to fully resolving all the states abuses in handling cases of human rights violations.
We believe that today's regime is actually trying hard to revive militaristic patterns and values and a military culture as well as the concentration of military characteristics in state governance and the administration that show a betrayal of the mandate of reformasi – the political reform process that began in 1998 – as enshrined in People’s Consultative Assembly Decree (TAP MPR) VI/MPR/2000 on the separation of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police (Polri). Starting from the military nuanced minister's retreat to the military's involvement in state infrastructure projects, food projects and the revisions to the TNI Law, which have increasingly laid out a red carpet for military institutions to carry out other functions that violate the principles of military professionalism.
The military's dominant involvement in today's regime is undoubtedly extremely dangerous, as it could potentially confront its own people again, leading to human rights violations and a series of incidents of state violence, similar to those under the New Order. The Tanjung Priok tragedy and a series of other serious human rights violations are enough to demonstrate the dire precedent set for this nation when the military begins to interfere in civilian affairs.
Unfortunately, after four decades have passed, the repression has never stopped, with violence by the state apparatus against demonstrators criticising government policies that are not pro-people occurring again. In just the last week, we have witnessed how the people's protests, born out of deep disappointment due to unfair policies, were met by the police with arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and even the loss of life by being run over by vehicles used for warfare.
The repressive patterns of the New Order are being repeated: critical voices are considered a threat, democratic space is narrowed, and people who demand their rights are treated as if they were enemies of the state.
From the Tanjung Priok incident, which occurred 41 years ago, we can see the same common thread that persists today, that the state continues to choose to silence, not listen; to oppress, not protect; to violate human rights, not uphold them; to perpetuate impunity, not prosecute.
As a form of pressure on the government, we urge:
1. The government and authorised institutions to immediately initiate a reparation mechanism for the victims and families of the 1984 Tanjung Priok incident. Although a court mechanism for the Tanjung Priok case already exists, the government still ignores the rehabilitation of the rights of victims who were harmed by the Tanjung Priok incident. Reparation for victims is essential to prevent them from being further victimised;
2. The Jakarta regional government (DKI) must immediately make efforts to restore civil law in population administration by recording the 1984 Tanjung Priok victims as being forcibly disappeared;
3. The DKI government must immediately work towards a memorialisation of the incident as part of uncovering the truth regarding the 1984 Tanjung Priok case;
4. The president and the House of Representatives (DPR) must immediately ratify the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance in accordance with the recommendations of the Special Committee of the Indonesian House of Representatives in letter number PW.01/6024/DPR RI/IX/2009.
Jakarta, September 12, 2025
- Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras)
- Association of Tanjung Priok Victims and Families (IKAPRI)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "41 Tahun Peristiwa Tanjung Priok: Utang Negara kepada Korban Pelanggaran Berat HAM".]
