BEM UI Stormed Police Headquarters Demanding Heavy Sentence for Bripda Mesias and Removal of National Police Chief
Jakarta — Pressure on the Indonesian National Police (Polri) intensified on Friday, 27 February 2026, when the University of Indonesia Student Executive Board (BEM UI) staged a demonstration at Police Headquarters (Mabes Polri). The action was triggered by the death of MTsN 1 Southeast Maluku student Arianto Tawakal (14), who allegedly suffered fatal injuries from assault by Mobile Brigade member Bripda Mesias Siahaya. BEM UI maintained that the case could not conclude through standard legal procedures alone, demanding severe punishment and the removal of top police leadership.
The action was announced through BEM UI’s official Instagram account on Thursday, 27 February 2026, under the hashtag #AparatKepar4t, with demonstrators planned to march from FISIP UI to Police Headquarters at approximately 13:00 WIB. BEM UI member Hafidz Hernanda outlined five key demands for the protest, with the primary demand focusing on maximum criminal penalties for Bripda Mesias.
“We demand the imposition of the maximum criminal sentence for the police officer who killed AT and all repressive security personnel,” Hernanda stated on Friday, 27 February 2026.
Beyond individual accountability, BEM UI directed demands at the highest levels of police leadership and provincial authorities. “We demand the removal of Listyo Sigit from his position as National Police Chief and Dadang Hartanto from his position as Maluku Provincial Police Chief,” he said.
The students further demanded the release of all detainees they characterized as victims of criminalisation, clarification of police authority boundaries, and the withdrawal of police from civil administrative positions. “We also demand concrete results from structural, cultural, and instrumental police reform from the Commission for the Acceleration of Police Reform,” Hernanda added.
The case against Bripda Mesias Siahaya, a Mobile Brigade officer accused of assaulting student Arianto Tawakal (14) to death in Tual City, Maluku, continued through the legal process. Maluku Regional Police confirmed that the case file had been transferred to the Tual State Prosecutor’s Office. Inspecteur General Johnny Edizzon Isir, Head of Polri’s Public Relations Division, stated that the first-stage file transfer was completed on 24 February 2026, following the investigation report dated 19 February 2026.
Bripda Mesias faces charges under Article 76C read with Article 80(3) of Law No. 35 of 2014 amending Law No. 23 of 2002 on Child Protection, read with Article 466(3) of Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code. He faces a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment and fines up to IDR 3 billion.