August 29, 2025 | 03:48 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - After the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) tactical vehicle fatally struck an online motorcycle taxi (ojol) driver on Thursday, August 28, 2025, in Jakarta, the hashtag #PolisiPembunuhRakyat (#PoliceKillCivilians) went viral on social media platform X. By 10:00 AM on Friday, August 29, more than 71,000 accounts had used the hashtag.
One of the first accounts to amplify the campaign was the Student Council of the Justicia Law Faculty at Gadjah Mada University, @demajusticia, which also shared a poster bearing the slogan #JusticeForAffan.
The poster referred to Affan Kurniawan, the ojol driver who was killed after being run over by the Brimob vehicle.
Prominent social media activist Palti Hutabarat, through his account @PaltiHutabarat, also helped spread the hashtag. “Still not over the moment last night at RSCM hearing the cries of Affan Kurniawan’s family,” he wrote in a post on Friday.
The outrage extended beyond hashtags. Netizens circulated satirical memes mocking the Indonesian police. One meme listed what it called the institution’s “greatest achievements”: (1) causing riot tragedies, (2) slandering Gamma, (3) shooting their own aide, and (4) running over civilians.
On Instagram, anger was expressed through a widely shared poster stating: “This is not chaos, this is murder. Witnessed by everyone. When the state institution entrusted to protect becomes the perpetrator of harm, its legitimacy truly collapses.” By Friday, the poster had been reposted in over 750,000 Instagram stories, often accompanied by the hashtag #PolisiPembunuhRakyat (in English: #PoliceKillCivilians).
The online storm followed the death of Affan Kurniawan, who was fatally struck by a Brimob tactical vehicle during demonstrations in Jakarta on Thursday. When visiting Affan’s family at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM), National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo offered an apology.
“I apologize to the entire ojol community and also the public for this tragedy and the incident that occurred,” he told reporters.
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