After online outrage, S. Sulawesi governor issues ‘strong reprimand’ to police who dragged cow with truck

Photo allegedly showing a cow being dragged by a Satpol PP truck in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi. Photo: Instagram.com/agoez_bandz
Photo allegedly showing a cow being dragged by a Satpol PP truck in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi. Photo: Instagram.com/agoez_bandz

Last week, videos and photos of a cow that had been tied up to and dragged by a Satpol PP (Civil Service Police) truck in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, went viral, with many Indonesian netizens, including celebrity Sophia Latjuba, expressing sadness and outrage over the thoughtless act of animal cruelty.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgMdgsCjW1w/?hl=en&taken-by=sophia_latjuba88

The cow, which was shown to have collapsed at some point after being dragged, was one of five that Satpol PP officers in Bulukumba had rounded up after they had escaped their enclosure on Wednesday, March 7. Video of the incident was first posted to a Facebook group for Bulukumba residents by a concerned citizen.

https://www.facebook.com/roda2blog/posts/1742540979159065

Viral furor over the incident led South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo to issue a letter yesterday to the regent of Bulukumba demanding that he reprimand the Satpol PP officers responsible.

“In relation to the social media posting in the Bulukumba info group on Wednesday, March 7, 2018 in which a citizen’s cow appears to have been dragged by a Satpol PP Police Units truck and tied to the back of the vehicle while it drove forward, the regent of Bulukumba must give a strong reprimand to the concerned (members of Satpol PP) and do not allow the same thing to happen to other animals because this is very contrary to the principles of animal welfare in accordance with the Law No. 41 of 2014 on Farming and Animal Health,” Syahrul wrote in the letter, which was picked up by a number of media outlets including Kompas.

While the governor might have meant well, as he points out in his own letter, the actions of the Satpol PP officers in the video are in clear violation of Indonesia’s laws against animal cruelty, violations which are punishable by up to three months in prison. To issue a strong reprimand without demanding that the officers involved face any sort of punishment whatsoever suggests letter might have been less about preventing animal cruelty and more about public relations. 

Which would be par for the course. Despite innumerable reports about animal cruelty in Indonesia ranging from the horrific conditions at local zoos or the cruel slaughter of dogs for food, the government has done little to improve or enforce animal welfare laws. It will take the continued and vocal outrage of Indonesian citizens who are concerned about animal rights to make those changes happen eventually.



Reader Interactions

Leave A Reply


BECOME A COCO+ MEMBER

Support local news and join a community of like-minded
“Coconauts” across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

Join Now
Coconuts TV
Our latest and greatest original videos
Subscribe on