Jihan Ristiyanti, Jakarta – Amnesty International Indonesia considers the shooting that killed a car rental boss in the rest area of Tangerang toll road last week by members of the Indonesian Navy (TNI AL) to be a violation of human rights.
"Extrajudicial killings violate the right to life," said the non-profit's executive director, Usman Hamid, on Tuesday, January 7, 2025.
The shooting incident occurred on Thursday, January 2, where the 48-year-old victim, owner of a Makmur Jaya car rental, intended to find his car after the GPS device was removed. The victim, Ilyas Abdurrahman, was shot in the chest upon finding his car. He died at the scene, while his colleague, Rendi, was also shot in the right abdomen and was later rushed to a hospital in Jakarta. There were about four people in control of the car at the time.
It was later discovered that the shooter was not the renter of Ilyas's car, as three of the four people in the car were Navy members.
Fleet Command Commander (Pangkoarmada) Rear Admiral Denih Hendrata said the motive behind the shooting was because the perpetrator was ganged up on by 15 unknown people.
"One of the personnel opened fire, and it was later discovered that one person died and one was injured," he said in a press conference on Monday, January 6.
Usman Hamid regretted how military personnel easily used firearms arbitrarily. Usman said that throughout 2024, there were a total of 55 cases of extrajudicial killings, with the majority of offenders being the police and military personnel.
"A total of 10 perpetrators came from the Indonesian armed forces (TNI), 29 from the police, and three came from the TNI-Polri joint forces," he said.
Usman hopes the case will not be handled by the military court despite involving members of the Navy, as the legal process tends to lack transparency. In conjunction, Usman hopes the government and the parliament will revise the Military Justice Law to improve the legal process within military courts.
Usman also urges the police and TNI to consider such perpetrators as "a few bad apples," as such terms negate institutional responsibility. According to the Amnesty International director, an institution bears the responsibility for all actions taken by its members in the field, especially if they use firearms to commit criminal acts of murder or other human rights violations.