Calls are growing for President Prabowo Subianto to take concrete steps toward sweeping reform within the National Police, with analysts warning that success will hinge on his willingness to address entrenched problems in one of the country’s most powerful institutions.
Public pressure for reform has built up over years of persistent brutality, a culture of impunity and mounting political interference, all of which have eroded trust in law enforcement and undermined the police’s legitimacy.
Renewed calls for police reform intensified in the wake of a tumultuous week in late August, when nationwide protests over lawmakers’ lavish allowances amid economic hardships erupted into a broader outcry after an ojol (online motorcycle transportation) driver was killed after being driven over by a police tactical vehicle in Jakarta.
Nicky Fahrizal, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), stressed that the President must leverage his authority to address systemic failures rather than pursue quick, superficial fixes.
“Without strong political will from the President, police reform will only amount to cosmetic changes,” Nicky said in a discussion on Thursday.
“The problems within the police institution are deep-rooted and require fundamental and thorough solutions.”
Analysts argue that reform must begin with a revision of the 2002 Police Law, which has so far failed to deliver a professional and accountable force.
Bambang Rukminto of the Institute for Security and Strategic Studies (ISESS) said separately that the law’s Article 8, which places the police directly under the President’s control, “risks turning the police into a political tool of the president, much like during the New Order era”.
He added that external oversight remains weak, as the National Police Commission (Kompolnas), the government-sanctioned oversight body formalised under the police law, lacks the authority to hold officers accountable and can only issue non-binding recommendations.
The mechanism for appointing the police chief must also be revisited, Nicky of CSIS said, noting that Article 11, under which the president nominates candidates subject to the House of Representatives’ approval, leaves the process vulnerable to opaque political bargaining.
Achieving meaningful reform will also require dismantling the police’s entrenched culture of violence and impunity, Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid said.
He stressed the importance of transparent investigations and the prosecution of officers responsible for human rights violations. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
