Jakarta – Human rights watchdog Imparsial has said the National Police should not come under the direct auspices of the president, in order to avoid abuse.

"This is an essential requirement in police reform: To improve professionalism and avoid using the police merely as a tool," Al Araf from Imparsial said in a press release on Tuesday.

Al Araf said it would be possible to put the police under the supervision of either the Home Ministry, the Law and Human Rights Ministry or the Attorney General's Office (AGO).

The idea, he said, was in line with a recent survey conducted by Imparsial. "The majority of people that took part in our survey agreed that the police should come under a department rather than the president," he said.

The survey, which was carried out between June 17 and July 4, randomly surveyed 500 people aged 17 or over, across all five districts in Jakarta.

As many as 28.8 percent of respondents agreed that the police should answer to the AGO, followed by 18.8 percent suggesting the Home Ministry. Six percent of those surveyed favored the Defense Ministry; four percent supported the Law and Human Rights Ministry, while four percent favored supervision by the Indonesian military.