TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) condemned the alleged police extortion of DWP (Djakarta Warehouse Project) 2024 audiences. The extortion of Malaysian citizens at the electronic music festival was allegedly carried out by 18 police officers from various jurisdictions of the Jakarta Metro Police.

The dozens of police allegedly conducted random urine tests on Malaysian audiences and asked the tourists to pay a total of 9 million Ringgit Malaysia or equivalent to Rp32 billion.

"There was police arbitrariness in conducting urine tests at the DWP 2024 event which also resulted in violations of the Human Rights (HAM) of visitors," said LBH Jakarta Director Fadhil Alfathan in a press release on Sunday, December 22, 2024.

According to regulations, said Fadhil, urine tests can only be carried out in the context of law enforcement during an investigation. The police cannot randomly force the implementation of urine tests without any certainty that the process has been carried out in the realm of investigation, let alone there being acts of extortion against visitors.

"No half measures, the visitors, most of whom were foreign tourists, were forced to pay RM 9 million or equivalent to Rp32 billion to be released," he said.

LBH also condemned the use of the term 'oknum' used by the Police against the police who carried out the extortion. According to him, the use of the term is nothing more than an attempt to simplify the problem and escape institutional responsibility. He gave an example when the Head of the Information Bureau (Karopenmas) of the Police Public Relations Division, Brigadier General Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko, made a press release on Friday, December 21, 2024.

"He stated 'We ensure that there is no place for individuals who tarnish the institution'," said Fadhli, imitating Trunoyudo's statement.

Fadhil also commented on the examination of 18 Polri personnel by the Propam Division of the Metro Jaya Police assisted by the Propam Division of the National Police Headquarters. According to him, an ethical examination alone is not enough, because the police involved must be processed criminally.

"Ethical sanctions without a criminal process, or even without any sanctions at all, are a common pattern to perpetuate police impunity," he said.

Based on the records of the LBH Jakarta monitoring and assistance team, said Fadhil, there were 58 cases of torture whose perpetrators were not punished criminally and ethically throughout 2013-2022. Especially in cases that have attracted public attention. One of them is the case repressiveness and mass arrests of #ReformasiDikorupsi 2019 demonstrators, demonstrations rejecting the Omnibus Law on Job Creation 2020, or the 2024 Emergency Warning.

"Until now, there has been no process at all against the perpetrators, either ethically or criminally," he said.

LBH Jakarta urges the Chief of Police, Inspector General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, to apologize to the victims for the reckless behavior of his members, and also to commit to uncovering and resolving the case comprehensively, transparently and accountably. "And take firm action against the perpetrators, which are not limited to field-level perpetrators," said Fadhil.

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