TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka visited the family home of Andika Lutfi Falah, a student who died after joining a mass demonstration, in Puri Bidara Permai, Tigaraksa, Tangerang Regency, Banten, on Tuesday, September 2, 2025.
According to the Vice President’s Secretariat, Gibran arrived at around 3:00 p.m. local time and met with Andika’s parents. President Joko Widodo’s eldest son expressed his condolences and also conveyed a message of sympathy from President Prabowo Subianto.
In addition to offering condolences, Gibran asked the family about the chronology of events leading to Andika’s death.
Andika, an 11th-grade student at State Vocational High School (SMK) 14 Tangerang, had been in a coma for three days at Mintohardjo Navy Hospital before passing away.
“He had been lying in the ICU for three days,” said Joninda, a representative of the Street Paramedics Coalition, on Monday, September 1.
Based on information gathered by Tempo, Andika allegedly suffered police brutality during the demonstration on Friday, August 29. He sustained a fractured skull.
The protest Andika attended was part of a week-long wave of demonstrations against increased allowances for members of the House of Representatives (DPR), government policies seen as harmful to public interests, and rising taxes across various sectors.
The demonstrations, ongoing since August 25, have claimed at least ten lives, according to the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI). Among them was Affan Kurniawan, a motorcycle taxi driver who was fatally run over by a police tactical vehicle near the DPR building in Jakarta on August 28.
Andika’s brother, Pangestu, said the family has accepted his passing. “The family has come to terms with everything,” he told Tempo on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Chair of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), Anis Hidayah, urged the state, particularly the police, to be held accountable. “The state must take responsibility. This is what we will push for,” Anis said.
She emphasized that the police must investigate possible violations of procedure in handling the protests, which may have caused Andika’s death.
“His death is strongly suspected to be the result of violence. This must be proven through evidence and a serious investigation by law enforcement officials,” she added.
