TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsStudent groups press for police reform after fatal assault on Maluku teenager
The recent police brutality case against an underage student in Tual, Maluku shows the government’s failure to protect its citizens and reform the police as well as a troubling pattern of impunity within the force, student groups have said.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Graffiti that reads “Police are killers“ is seen as community groups and university students stage a demonstration on Sept. 1, 2025, demanding an end to police brutality in Makassar, South Sulawesi. (AFP/Daeng Mansur)
S
tudent groups across the country have stepped up pressure on President Prabowo Subianto and his administration to expedite long-promised reforms of the National Police, following a recent incident of police brutality that resulted in the death of a minor.
On Feb. 19, Maluku Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officer Second Brig. Masias Siahaya struck on the head with his helmet a 14-year-old student who was riding a motorcycle home in Tual, Maluku, after a morning stroll at the start of Ramadan.
The blow caused the student to fall face down onto the asphalt, while his motorcycle spun out of control and crashed into his 15-year-old older brother, who was riding ahead of him. The student was later pronounced dead from severe brain hemorrhaging, while his brother was treated at a local hospital.
Masias was reportedly monitoring illegal street racing at the time of the incident. He allegedly struck the student after misidentifying him as one of the participants in the unauthorized race.
The incident drew condemnations of the National Police, including from the National Association of University Student Executive Bodies (BEM-SI). The group asserted that the killing reflected the government’s failure to uphold its duty to protect citizens as mandated by the 1945 Constitution.
The BEM-SI urged Prabowo to immediately initiate a comprehensive “reconstruction and reform of the police institution within the shortest possible timeframe”, noting that repeated cases of police brutality show the government’s promises of reform have yet to translate into meaningful changes.
“The persistent talk of police reform should have resulted in professionalism, accountability and respect for the rule of law within the force,” the BEM-SI wrote in a statement posted on social media on Wednesday.
