Affan Kurniawan found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time when Indonesia erupted in violent protests over hefty allowances for lawmakers late last month. He paid with his life.
The 21-year-old motorcycle taxi rider had set out for another night of ferrying food orders and passengers on 28 August when he was killed in a police crackdown on protesters. A police vehicle ploughed into him as it chased protesters in the capital Jakarta.
His death, captured in haunting videos that spread rapidly on social media, ignited an outpouring of fury in the country, uniting Indonesians in grief and anger at a government many of them accused of impunity and indifference.
Affan was described by family and friends as the “backbone” of a destitute household. The second of three children, he was the main breadwinner. His mother works as a housemaid and his father takes up odd jobs. It was primarily Affan’s steady income that kept the household afloat.
The family lived in a cramped rented house in Jakarta, but Affan had been saving money to purchase land and build a house in their native Lampung in South Sumatra.
Neighbours remembered him as conscientious and unfailingly polite, a young man who “never caused any trouble.”
The night he was killed, Affan had just completed a food delivery order and was preparing to pick up his next passenger when he reportedly dropped his mobile phone in the crowd of protesters. As he knelt to retrieve it, an armoured tactical vehicle struck him, pinning him under its front tires.
The vehicle accelerated, ran him over and fled the scene despite the crowd attempting to stop it. He was taken to the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital but did not survive his injuries.
“There was a motorcycle taxi driver who fell and was hit but the vehicle did not stop and just moved over until it ran over the victim,” an eyewitness named Kevin told Kompas.
As footage of the incident spread on social media, further inflaming the protests, police detained the seven officers riding in the vehicle for 20 days on ethics breaches. The National Police Commission of Ethics also announced the dishonourable discharge of Kosmas Kaju Gae, a member of the elite Mobile Brigade Corps, popularly known as Brimob, who was in charge.
Mr Kosmas broke down in tears as he defended his actions, saying he was just following orders and calling Affan’s death an accident.
“The incident was not intentional,” he told an ethics panel. “I swear to God, there was no intention to harm anyone.”
He later apologised to Affan’s family as well as to national police chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, who himself had earlier visited the family to make a public apology.
Affan’s mother called for the “harshest sanction by the law” for those responsible for her son’s death, the Straits Times reported.
“He was the backbone of our family and worked very hard. He had been saving up money from his job to buy land and build a house for us,” she said.
President Prabowo Subianto expressed shock over Affan’s death and called for a thorough investigation.
“I’m shocked and disappointed by the excessive actions of the officers,” he said in a statement. Should the police officers involved be found to have “acted improperly and outside the rules in force”, he added, “we will take the strictest action in accordance with the law”.
