The shocking moment an activist was attacked with chemicals in Jakarta

March 20, 2026 — 8:36am

Singapore/Jakarta: Four Indonesian officers have been arrested in connection with a chemical attack on a young Indonesian activist who has long criticized the country’s security forces and investigated their behavior during deadly protests across the country last year.

Shocking CCTV footage and audio of the attack, confirmed by Indonesian police, shows 27-year-old Andrie Yunus screaming in pain and tearing his clothes as stunned bystanders rushed to his aid on a busy street in central Jakarta on the night of March 12.

Moments earlier, he was riding home on his motorcycle after recording a podcast about the Indonesian military’s ballooning role in civilian affairs when two drivers traveling in the opposite direction approached within inches and hurled liquid at him.

Yunus, an activist with the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence (KontraS), remains in the high care unit at the hospital with eye damage and burns over 20 percent of his body.

Indonesian activist Andrie Yunus.instagram

On Thursday, Indonesian authorities arrested six people, including four from the military intelligence unit. It is not yet known whether the other two motorcycle attackers were involved.

The attack alarmed Indonesian human rights groups, who said it was part of a pattern of intimidation by the country’s most powerful.

Nearly 700 organizations and individuals from around the world, including 26 from Australia, signed a letter condemning the attack sent to the Indonesian government.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.Photographer: Samsul Said/Bloomb

“If a human rights defender can be brutally attacked in a public space in the nation’s capital, this shows how fragile state protection is for citizens fighting for justice and how narrow the safe space for human rights advocacy has become in Indonesia,” the letter said.

Many Indonesians worry that President Prabowo Subianto is emulating his former father-in-law, autocrat Suharto, who ruled for 32 years, by giving the military an expanded role in public life and allowing active-duty officers to fill government jobs.

Almost a year before they were attacked, Yunus and others interrupted a closed-door meeting of politicians in Jakarta discussing such laws, the letter said.

Additionally, rights groups said Yunus was a member of a commission of inquiry investigating the actions of security forces during mass protests in August last year.

The commission’s report, compiled after a five-month investigation, found that the forces “used disproportionate force, made mass arrests, alleged torture, and committed widespread criminality against activists and civilians,” the letter said.

The Indonesian government this week praised the military and police for quickly arresting people suspected of involvement in the attack.

“The government reiterates that any act of violence is unacceptable under any circumstances. Legal proceedings will be conducted strictly, transparently and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations,” the statement said.

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