JAKARTA: President Prabowo Subianto won parliamentary approval Thursday (Oct 1) to install the first national police chief of his own choosing, ending the tenure of a former aide to ex-President Joko Widodo in an abrupt shakeup.
Lawmakers vetted Suyudi Ario Seto, head of the National Narcotics Agency, at a morning hearing, then swiftly endorsed his nomination in a plenary session. He will replace Listyo Sigit Prabowo, a former presidential aide to Widodo who has led the force since early 2021.
Plans for the shakeup had not been publicly disclosed before Thursday, and the parliamentary process unfolded within hours. Habiburokhman, chairman of the parliamentary commission that vetted Suyudi, said lawmakers had received a letter from Prabowo dated Sept 30 seeking Listyo’s dismissal and Suyudi’s appointment.
"He has the bearing for it - he looks suited to be police chief,” Habiburokhman said of Suyudi during the plenary session
"The police need a leader who is qualified, professional and has integrity. We hope this leadership renewal will increase public trust in the police.”
The move will end the tenure of a police chief whose career rose rapidly under Widodo, known as Jokowi. Listyo served as police chief in Solo during Jokowi’s second term as mayor of the city. When Jokowi became president in 2014, Listyo was appointed a presidential police aide-de-camp and then rose through a series of senior posts before becoming national police chief in 2021.
There had been little public indication that Listyo was on his way out. Just days earlier, he had presided over senior personnel changes, including the promotion of 50 high-ranking officers.
The police chief commands one of Indonesia’s most powerful state institutions. The force has more than 450,000 personnel, reports directly to the president and is set to receive 139.2 trillion rupiah (US$7.8 billion) in 2027 - the third-largest allocation among ministries and agencies, behind only the National Nutrition Agency and the Defense Ministry.
Jacqui Baker, a senior lecturer in Southeast Asian politics at Murdoch University, said the police are not merely a law-enforcement agency but one of Indonesia’s most powerful state institutions, with vast territorial reach, coercive powers and access to sophisticated investigative and surveillance tools. It rivals the military in size and has accumulated significant political and economic influence over the past two decades, she added.
"I don’t think Prabowo will want a stronger police, just one more aligned to his ambitions,” Baker said. "The timing is peculiar though - why now, and why so quickly?”
Suyudi, 53, is a three-star police general and 1994 Police Academy graduate whose career has focused on criminal investigations. He became head of the National Narcotics Agency in August 2025 after serving as Banten police chief and deputy chief of the Jakarta police.
Appearing before lawmakers Thursday, he acknowledged public complaints about the police and said criticism should serve as an "early-warning system” for the institution rather than be concealed.
He pledged to make public trust a central measure of his leadership, saying police reports shouldn’t have to go viral before receiving attention.
His priorities include cracking down on narcotics, online gambling and digital scams, human trafficking, cybercrime, corruption, extortion and environmental crime. He pledged to strengthen internal oversight and merit-based promotion, saying there should be no room for favoritism, transactional appointments or police protection for illegal activity.
Suyudi also promised tighter controls on the use of police force during demonstrations, saying peaceful protesters should be protected. Any use of force must be lawful, proportionate, measured, documented and accountable, he said.
"A strong police force isn’t one that is feared, but one that is trusted,” he said. - Bloomberg
