Police Auditor Reveals Identity of Man Who Sent Threatening Messages to Depok Firefighter
DEPOK, KOMPAS.com — Senior Police Auditor Kombes Pol Manang Soebeti of the Inspectorate General’s Supervision Unit (Itwasum) of the Indonesian National Police has revealed the identity of the person who sent threatening messages to Depok firefighter Khairul Umam following the latter’s online content about helmet safety.
The threatening messages were received after Khairul uploaded content explaining the function of helmets as personal protective equipment (PPE).
Soebeti identified the message sender as Wawan Gunawan, a man born in the 1980s who works as a casual labourer. “There is plenty of such data, this kind of information is available on many websites — it is routine profiling data,” Soebeti told Kompas.com on Saturday (28 February 2026).
Soebeti explained that revealing the perpetrator’s identity serves to help the public distinguish between frivolous threats and genuine serious threats. He noted that genuine threats typically involve sustained and intensive harassment, such as repeated contact with the victim, direct visits, or sending anonymous parcels.
“If it is just WhatsApp messages, anyone could do that — it could be someone just joking around or acting emotionally,” Soebeti said. “And what is most important is that the accusations made in the comments suggested the threatener was a police officer. That is what I wanted to prove — that the perpetrator is not a police officer,” he added.
In his video, Khairul explained that helmets are designed to protect the head from impact, not to cause injury. The content was widely interpreted by some as an indirect reference to alleged police brutality in a case involving a junior secondary school student who reportedly died after being struck with a helmet by officers allegedly connected to the Brimob Corps.
After the video was posted, Khairul received threatening messages via WhatsApp private chat. The sender initially claimed to be a fan, then urged Khairul to be careful, advised him to safeguard his safety, and instructed him to “pay respects” to his parents. “He told me to wear a helmet, to look after my safety, and to pay respects to my parents,” Khairul recounted.
In other messages, the sender used intimidating language. “It was quite subtle, subtle in that way. He also said at one point, ‘Wait, I have a surprise for you,’” Khairul disclosed.
The content became associated with an alleged police brutality case involving officers from the Brimob Corps, in which a junior secondary school student reportedly died after allegedly being struck with a helmet.