Andrie Yunus Cries Out "Help" After Being Doused with Caustic Acid; Two Perpetrators Escape Despite Public Pursuit

JAKARTA — Residents attempted to pursue two assailants who doused Andrie Yunus, Vice Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS), with caustic acid on motorcycles.

However, both perpetrators riding motorcycles managed to escape and evaded capture.

The incident occurred on Salemba I Street, Senen Village, Central Jakarta, on the evening of Thursday, 12 March 2026.

Buyung (32), an eyewitness, recounted that the acid attack on Andrie happened near midnight.

At the time, Buyung was playing guitar with a colleague at the end of Talang Bridge.

“Suddenly we heard ‘Help! Help!’, the voice was very loud, ‘Help, help!’. Then I put down the guitar and went towards where the voice came from,” Buyung told Kompas.com when encountered at Talang Bridge on Friday evening, 13 March 2026.

“I saw a motorcycle had fallen over, the victim was already in severe pain. His clothes were also torn, torn by himself because he was hit by caustic acid,” he explained.

At that time, Buyung saw dozens of residents had gathered around the victim.

Residents then asked what had happened to Andrie, who was in visible agony.

“They asked ‘What happened, what happened?’, ‘I was doused with caustic acid’, ‘Why, how?’. He answered that he didn’t know who it was,” Buyung recounted.

At that moment, residents also asked for Andrie Yunus’s identity. Andrie identified himself as an activist with KontraS.

Buyung observed that the skin on Andrie’s chest, hands, and eyes showed red blistering after being hit by the caustic spray.

Residents offered water to Andrie to drink.

After that, Andrie approached his fallen motorcycle and immediately rode towards the KontraS office, which was located not far from the incident site.

Residents offered to escort Andrie to the office, but he declined.