Mourning the Passing of BPK Member IV Haerul Saleh

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The passing of Member IV of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), Haerul Saleh, has brought grief to numerous parties, including his family, relatives, and fellow colleagues. Haerul passed away when his home in the Tanjung Barat area of South Jakarta caught fire on Friday morning (8/5/2026). His house was undergoing renovations at the time, and during the incident, he was overseeing the workers. When the fire broke out, Haerul was on the fourth floor with three of his relatives. Harpen thought Haerul had descended with the three others. However, upon reaching the first floor, Haerul was nowhere to be found. “We went back up. We tried to put out the fire using a small fire extinguisher, but it was limited. There was one, but it wasn’t enough,” said Harpen when met at the location on Friday. Shortly after, firefighters arrived to extinguish the blaze. Haerul was then carried out from his workspace in an unconscious state. “His condition… he was already unconscious. Probably due to the smoke, as he was already unresponsive; from outside, they said the smoke was black,” explained Harpen. Haerul was rushed to Pasar Minggu Hospital before being collected by his family and taken to his official residence in the Pondok Indah area of Kebayoran Lama. Initial suspicions point to the fire being caused by leftover thinner from the house renovations. However, the police have not yet detailed how the thinner ignited.