October 2, 2025
JAKARTA – At least two protesters remain missing more than a month after the string of deadly demonstrations in Jakarta in late August, with rights groups raising suspicions over their forced disappearance by security forces and calling for an intensified search for them.
The Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) submitted a letter addressed to National Police chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo on Monday that urged authorities to immediately search for Muhammad Farhan Hamid, 23, and Reno Syachputra Dewo, 24.
Both protesters were reported missing after joining a protest in front of the Jakarta Police’s Mobile Brigade (Brimob) headquarters in Kwitang, Central Jakarta on Aug. 29. At that time, hundreds of people gathered to protest the death of Affan Kurniawan, a 21-year-old ojol (online motorcycle transportation) driver who was hit by a Brimob armored vehicle the previous night.
According to Farhan’s family, Farhan joined the protest at Kwitang with two friends. He reportedly ran away and got separated from his friends when security personnel fired tear gas towards the protesters.
His family had searched multiple hospitals and contacted friends and relatives, but found no trace of Farhan. The Jakarta Police have since questioned the family as part of their investigation to locate Farhan.
Meanwhile, Reno had also reportedly been last seen going to Kwitang to join the protest, but never returned home. His family could not reach him through his phone since then.
“We urge for an intensive and thorough search for Farhan and Reno, open access to data and investigation into their detention as well as firm action against all those responsible for this practice of forced disappearance,” Kontras wrote in the letter.
The letter has also been addressed to the Indonesian Military (TNI), the government, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK).
Kontras argued the police “responded violently” in handling the protests, resulting in thousands of arbitrary arrests and violence against civilians and human rights defenders
The rights group received 47 reports of missing persons during the week-long protests in Jakarta. Of the reported figures, 33 were later found in police custody.
Farhan and Reno, along with 33 others, are victims of forced disappearance, according to Kontras coordinator Dimas Bagus Arya, citing the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) that defines the practice as including secret detainment.
“The 33 persons were found to have been held in secret at several police stations without access to legal counsel or the right to contact their families,” Dimas said on Tuesday.
Noting that Farhan and Reno’s names were not in official arrest records, Dimas claimed the police had been not fully transparent about their actions towards several protesters.
In an effort to push the police to intensify the search, Farhan’s brother Imrony, 26, went to the Jakarta Police headquarters in South Jakarta on Wednesday to deliver the Kontras letter. He was accompanied by several Kontras members.
“I hope the two of them [Farhan and Reno] can be found soon,” Imrony said.
On Tuesday, Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Ade Ary Syam Indradi said the police had continued the search for Farhan and Reno in coordination with their families, as reported by Antara.
More arrests
The police have pressed charges against activists, netizens and other protesters detained for their alleged links to the August unrest.
Several days after the protests, police named at least four activists who are alleged to have persuaded people, including minors, to join demonstrations and cause riots. Among the suspects was rights group Lokataru Foundation director Delpedro Marhaen.
The suspects are still detained as of Wednesday, despite calls to release them from the public and civic groups, including interfaith and pro-democracy group Gerakan Nurani Bangsa (GNB). Former religious affairs minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin of the GNB said last week the group has been willing to act as guarantors for their release.
Pekalongan Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Riki Yariandi (second right) stands with Pekalongan Mayor Afzan Arslan Djunaid (right) and Pekalongan Military Command Lt. Col. Ihalauw Garry Herlambang (third left) during a press briefing about the violent protest in the city at the Pekalongan Police headquarters in Pekalongan, Central Java on Sept. 2, 2025. (Antara/Harviyan Perdana Putra)
Weeks after the protest, the police continue to arrest people suspected of inciting riots during the August protests.
One of them, Muhammad Fakhrurrozi, was an activist of the Social Movement Institute, who was arrested in Yogyakarta by the East Java Police on Sept. 27 for alleged incitement during a protest in Kediri, East Java that ended in the burning of government buildings.
Investigators suspected him of actively joining Saiful Amin, a local activist in Kediri, who was arrested in early September on similar charges, East Java Police spokesperson Comr. Jules Abraham Abast said in a statement.
On Monday, the National Police held a dialogue with activists and rights groups, including Kontras, Amnesty International Indonesia and the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI).
Answering calls to release detainees and intensify the search for Farhan and Reno, National Police chief Listyo said the force would consider their feedback on how to handle protests going forward.
The force, he added, would also listen to civic groups in considering which cases can be processed and resolved out-of-court.