Amnesty Urges Police to Investigate GPS Tracker Installation on Student's Car

Amnesty International Indonesia has strongly condemned the placement of a GPS tracking device on the car of Tiyo Ardianto, a former executive of the Gadjah Mada University Student Executive Board. The organization views this act as intimidation, illegal surveillance, and a serious violation of privacy and freedom of expression rights guaranteed by Indonesian law and international covenants.

Usman Hamid, Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia, stated that the discovery of the tracker reinforces suspicions of political motives behind the surveillance of Tiyo. "The fact that the tracking device was found after Tiyo actively criticized government policies and participated in student protests strengthens the strong suspicion that this surveillance is politically motivated," Hamid said.

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The fact that the tracking device was found after Tiyo actively criticized government policies and participated in student protests strengthens the strong suspicion that this surveillance is politically motivated.

Hamid emphasized that no state entity should use surveillance technology to silence criticism, treating it as criminal activity. He noted that authoritarian regimes often use covert tracking as a precursor to criminalization or extrajudicial executions. "Activists are monitored 24 hours a day, their patterns are recorded, then used to ensnare them with vague laws. Or worse, their whereabouts are tracked until at some point they are executed," Hamid warned.

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Activists are monitored 24 hours a day, their patterns are recorded, then used to ensnare them with vague laws. Or worse, their whereabouts are tracked until at some point they are executed.

Amnesty highlighted that such practices create a "chilling effect," discouraging activists from speaking out due to constant surveillance. Hamid drew parallels between Tiyo's case and patterns observed in the Philippines under Duterte, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia during the New Order era, which involved intelligence agencies installing trackers, spreading disinformation, and escalating to physical intimidation.

Amnesty called for an independent investigation by the Indonesian National Police and the National Human Rights Commission to uncover all facts, including who installed the tracker, under whose orders, and the legal basis used. The organization stressed the state's obligation to guarantee the safety of Tiyo and other student activists criticizing the government, while also suggesting the need for parliamentary revision of the Information Law.

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If done by officials without a legal basis, it is called illegal wiretapping and can be punished by law.