Said Iqbal Arranges BPJS for Three Printing Employees Held Captive in Central Jakarta

Presidential Special Adviser for Employment and Labour Welfare, Said Iqbal, stated that he has instructed his staff to arrange BPJS health insurance for three printing company employees who were victims of false imprisonment in Central Jakarta. Iqbal said the three victims’ identity cards were lost, so his office will handle all their health care needs.

‘I have asked the staff of the Presidential Special Adviser for Employment and Labour Welfare to arrange their BPJS Kesehatan. Because everything is lost, their KTPs are lost, their identification is lost,’ Iqbal said during a press conference at the Metro Jaya Police Headquarters, Jakarta, on Friday (3/7/2026). ‘The BPJS Kesehatan is being processed by the staff I lead, from the Presidential Special Adviser for Employment and Labour Welfare, to anticipate future needs,’ he continued.

He also confirmed that the medical treatment for the three victims is currently the responsibility of the state. He noted that the police have already provided the best health services for the three victims. ‘I also conveyed yesterday that if there are matters related to medical treatment or psychiatry, all of that is the responsibility of the state, funded by the state,’ Iqbal said.

Iqbal also stated that the case of the confinement has drawn the attention of President Prabowo Subianto. According to him, the actions of the printing company owner violated the second principle of Pancasila.

Regarding the condition of the victims, Iqbal said he had met one of the victims named Tegar. From the meeting, he obtained information that Tegar received inhumane treatment. ‘There I found several things. One, it is true that the three of them, including Tegar, were treated inhumanely, among other things, they were paraded without any legal process,’ Iqbal said.

Said Iqbal was moved by the condition of the victims and their families. Tegar’s father is an ice seller. ‘What touched my heart—and I am sure the President will also give special attention—is that his father is just an ice seller, a poor man, and his child was treated like that until he cried, inhumanely, paraded around,’ he added.

Said Iqbal is confident President Prabowo Subianto is giving special attention to this case. Moreover, Prabowo has often spoken about the people’s hope to defend the weak. ‘President Prabowo, to fellow workers and the Indonesian people, always conveys a message to protect the people, to side with the weak, to serve the little people, not to hurt the people’s hearts, not to make the people suffer. That is what he always conveys to us and in his speeches before the people,’ he explained.

Further to his findings from the meeting with Tegar and his legal counsel, it was revealed that the victims were treated very inhumanely. Besides being held captive for 21 days, they were also put in chains. ‘The second finding, based on the victim’s explanation and the lawyer, is that they were confined and not given food for three days, chained, and treated in an uncivilised and inhumane manner,’ he said. ‘The principle is, if there are workers suspected of violating the law, the handling must be done legally by the employer, not by taking the law into one’s own hands, treating them inhumanely and without civility.’ According to him, the treatment of the three victims by the printing company owner violated the fundamental principles of Pancasila. ‘It violates the second principle of Pancasila, just and civilised humanity,’ he concluded.