Member of Parliament Bonnie Triyana Calls Attack on KontraS Activist Using Caustic Acid a Real Form of Human Rights Emergency and Antidemocratic Practice

Jakarta — Member of Parliament Bonnie Triyana has stated that the violence perpetrated against KontraS activist Andrie Yunus through a caustic acid attack constitutes an assault on Indonesia’s long history of human rights advocacy and struggle.

As someone who was born and raised during an authoritarian regime, Triyana expressed her unwillingness to see the nation regress to a dark era when activists were abducted, tortured, and forcibly disappeared merely for speaking out.

“The caustic acid attack on KontraS activist Andrie Yunus is not merely an ordinary criminal act,” Triyana stated in remarks made in Jakarta on Saturday, 14 March 2026.

Triyana characterised the acid attack on Yunus as an inhumane act and a tangible manifestation of a human rights emergency and antidemocratic practice in Indonesia.

Furthermore, Triyana cautioned that acts of terror aimed at silencing critical voices will only provoke stronger waves of resistance. “History proves that violence against activists has never succeeded in crushing freedom of expression; rather, civil society movements always emerge stronger each time they face terror,” she said.

The attack, she noted, recalled Indonesia’s dark historical record of violence against activists, ranging from the abduction of activists in 1997/1998, the killing of Marsinah (1993), Munir (2004), and caustic acid attacks on labour activists in the 1990s — many of which remain unresolved.

“These corrupt practices of the past must not be repeated in the reform era,” she stated.

To this end, she urged police to immediately apprehend the perpetrators and uncover the intellectual architects behind the attack down to their roots. Those responsible for the terror must face fair legal processes and cannot be allowed to live freely.

If apprehended, according to her assessment, the perpetrators should be charged with multiple offences, including attempted premeditated murder carrying maximum criminal penalties. This is because the violent act nearly cost the victim’s life and resulted in burns covering 24 percent of their body.

Through law enforcement, the state, according to Triyana, holds a moral and constitutional responsibility to ensure that violence against activists does not result in impunity as has frequently occurred in the past.

“The victim deserves maximum protection, especially given their work in human rights advocacy and freedom of expression,” she concluded.