The Tanjung Priok massacre was an incident that occurred in the port area of Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, Indonesia in 1984. Government reports give a total of 24 killed and 54 injured, while survivors report over 100 killed.
Background
On 10 September 1984, Sergeant Hermanu, a member of the Community Advisory Non-Commissioned Officer () arrived at As Saadah Mosque in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, and told the caretaker, Amir Biki, to remove brochures and banners critical of the government. Biki refused, so Hermanu removed them himself; to do so, he reportedly entered the prayer area of the mosque without removing his shoes (a serious violation of mosque etiquette). In response, local residents, led by mosque caretakers Syarifuddin Rambe and Sofwan Sulaeman, burned his motorcycle and attacked Hermanu while he was talking with another officer. The two then arrested Rambe and Sulaeman, as well as another caretaker, Achmad Sahi, and an unemployed man named Muhamad Noor.
Incident
Two days after the arrest, Islamic cleric Abdul Qodir Jaelani gave a sermon against Pancasila at As Saadah mosque. Afterwards, Biki led a protest to the North Jakarta Military District Command office, where the four prisoners were being held. Along the way, the group's numbers swelled, with estimates ranging between 1,500 and several thousand. The family's store, a pharmacy, was burned to the ground.
Once at the military command, the group unsuccessfully demanded the release of the prisoners. At roughly 11 p.m. local time (UTC+7), the protestors surrounded the military command. Military personnel from the 6th Air Defence Artillery Battalion opened fire on the protestors. Around midnight, eyewitnesses saw Jakarta Regional Military Command chief Try Sutrisno and Armed Forces commander Benny Moerdani supervising the removal of the victims; the corpses were loaded into military trucks and buried in unmarked graves, while the wounded were sent to Gatot Soebroto Military Hospital.
Aftermath
The military reported that the riots had been triggered by a man in a fake military uniform who distributed anti-government pamphlets along with 12 other accomplices; it reported having the man in custody. General Hartono Rekso Dharsono was arrested for allegedly inciting the riots. After a four-month trial, he was convicted; he was eventually released in September 1990, after serving five years in jail.
After the riots, at least 169 civilians were allegedly held without warrant. Some were reportedly tortured. The leaders were arrested and tried for subversion, then given long sentences when convicted. Others, including as Amir Biki, were among those killed.
Initial reports suggested 20 dead. Current official records give a total of 24 killed and 54 injured (including the military), while survivors report over a hundred killed. Tanjung Priok residents estimate a total of 400 killed or missing, while other reports suggest up to 700 victims.
Investigation
With the influx of human rights movements after the fall of Suharto in 1998, several groups were created to advocate for the rights of the victims, including the 1984 Foundation, the National Solidarity for the 1984 Tanjung Priok Incident (), and the Extended Family for Victims of the Tanjung Priok Incident (; founded by Biki's widow Dewi Wardah and son Beni). These groups pushed for the People's Representative Council (DPR) and National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to further investigate the massacre; inside the DPR, representatives A.M. Fatwa and Abdul Qodir Jaelani, both previously arrested after the massacre, pressed for further investigation. In 1999, Komnas HAM agreed to investigate the incident, forming the Commission for the Investigation and Examination of Human Rights Violations in Tanjung Priok (KP3T).