Mahfud MD Deems Komnas HAM's Performance to Have Regressed

Jakarta - Former Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD has assessed that the performance of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has regressed.

This statement was made in the context of Mahfud discussing the case of an acid attack by four BAIS TNI soldiers on KontraS activist Andrie Yunus.

“It’s really regressed,” said Mahfud, quoted from the Mahfud MD Official YouTube channel, Thursday (30/4/2026).

According to him, during his time, Komnas HAM actively coordinated with the government.

“That Komnas HAM coordinated with us intensively. Yes, they spoke frankly, debated, and could even quarrel. (At that time, the chairman was) Ahmad Taufan Damanik. He was very active,” Mahfud stated.

The institution was also open in expressing its stance to the public, so society knew about its work.

“Now, we don’t know what role Komnas HAM is playing in this (Andrie Yunus) case? Maybe they’re investigating,” Mahfud said.

“But if it were Komnas HAM in Damanik’s or Anam’s era, they would speak out strongly right away, and the public would know they were working,” he added.

In those cases, he said, Komnas HAM continued to work even if it had differing views from the government.

“The government, I, formed the TGPF. They opposed it, ‘No, you form it yourself,’ as if they didn’t trust the government.

We did it separately, but we facilitated Komnas HAM, go ahead and do it. In the end, the results were the same,” he said.

He added that coordination continued in other cases as well, including the Ferdy Sambo affair.