Public Condemns Abuse; Case Trends in Indonesia Over the Past Five Years

Recently, cases of assault in Indonesia have again come under public scrutiny and condemnation. The latest involves the assault of David Latumahina, the son of an Ansor Youth Movement (GP Ansor) official, by Mario Dandy Satriyo, the son of a former official from the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP).

The alleged motive stemmed from a complaint by a woman, identified only as A, who is Mario's girlfriend and David's ex-girlfriend. A claimed that she had been mistreated by David. In short, Mario confronted David, an argument ensued, and Mario and his accomplices beat David severely, leaving him in a coma.

Previously, there was also a case of assault involving senior students assaulting a junior student at the Surabaya Maritime Polytechnic (Poltekpel). The victim was beaten to death for being perceived as apathetic by his seniors.

These cases represent a small fraction of the assault phenomenon in Indonesia. So, what is the trend of assault cases over the past five years?

Statistics Indonesia (BPS) classifies assault into two categories: aggravated assault and simple assault. In 2021, there were 8,445 cases of aggravated assault and 12,211 cases of simple assault in Indonesia.

By region, the most assault cases were reported under the jurisdiction of the North Sumatra Regional Police (Polda Sumut). Specifically, there were 2,251 cases of aggravated assault and 2,561 cases of simple assault.

Over the past five years, the total number of assault cases has shown a downward trend, as seen in the graph above. In 2017, the total reached 33,734 cases. However, this decreased to 20,656 cases in 2021, a 27.69% decrease from 2020. This data is based on reports received by the police from BPS.