Jakarta – The Indonesian parliament on Monday passed a bill that placed the police force directly under the president and stipulated that police violations will be judged by a civilian court and no longer by a military tribunal.

"Now, the national police is under the general judicial system," Laws and Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra was quoted the the state Antara news agency as saying shortly after the draft bill was passed.

He said that with the new law the force was put under the authority of the president. The new law also marked the definitive separation of the police force from the Indonesian armed forces The police were gradually separated from the armed forces under the government of former president B.J. Habibie in 1998 to be placed temporarily under the control of the defence ministry.

"The placing of the police under the president is a political aspect as well as one of the administration of the state," Mahendra said. Meanwhile, as a law enforcer, "the authority of the police, and its implementation, is based on the law and not from a power source or the president," Mahendra added.

The new law, he said, will also provide a guarantee that the police could enforce the law, free from intervention from superiors or from outside the police force itself.

The minister also said that the government was planning to set up a national police commission which would assist the president in gradually turning the police force into a civilian, self-standing and professional force that respects the law.

The commission, he said, would absorb the aspirations of the people concerning the police and its operations in its efforts to improve the police force.

"This institution will also have the authority to provide advise and considerations regarding the dismissal and appointment of the national police chief, so that the post does not become a tool and power for the president," he said.

The new law has still to be approved by the president before it can become effective.