Ilona Estherina, Jakarta – The tactical vehicles owned by the Police Mobile Brigade Corps (Brimob) have come under scrutiny following the death of an online motorcycle taxi (ojol) driver during a protest on Thursday night, August 27, 2025. Several civil organizations have delved into the budget for the procurement of security equipment by the Indonesian National Police (Polri).

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), with Trend Asia and KontraS, investigated the purchase of vehicles for the special operations unit of the Indonesian National Police. "This investigation is also carried out to see how much of the taxpayers' money is used by the police to commit violence against civilian society," stated in a press release by ICW on Friday, August 29, 2025.

Based on the three civil organizations' investigation, from 2020 to 2024, Polri has spent Rp1.93 trillion to purchase tactical and special vehicles totaling 98 units. The price per unit for each tactical and special vehicle ranges from Rp3-75 billion.

Tactical vehicles are specifically designed for military and police purposes. These vehicles are often used for combat operations, VIP protection, and handling large-scale conflicts.

Quoting data from the Electronic Procurement Service (LPSE), the budget for the procurement of tactical vehicles and Brimob operational vehicles of the Jakarta Metro Police in the 2024 State Budget reaches Rp29.23 billion. However, the data does not specify the number of tactical vehicles included in this procurement.

Meanwhile, the budget for the maintenance and upkeep of the Brimob's tactical vehicles of the Jakarta Metro Police in 2024 amounted to Rp1.08 billion. On a general note, the budget for procuring crowd dispersal vehicles for the National Police's Security and Maintenance Unit (Samapta Bhayangkara) was set at Rp199.7 billion for 2024. Tempo has attempted to trace the budget for the procurement of tactical vehicles for the 2025 fiscal year of the Jakarta Metro Police, but the data was not found in LPSE.

The increased police budget has also not escaped scrutiny. In the draft state revenue and expenditure budget (RAPBN) for 2026, the government set the budget for the Indonesian National Police at Rp145.6 trillion. This figure is an increase from this year's projection or outlook of Rp138.5 trillion.

ICW assesses that the size of the police budget does not reflect the current difficult economic conditions faced by society. The coalition of civil organizations demands a reduction in the police budget because it is often used to strip citizens of their right to free expression, whether in digital spaces, parliamentary meetings, or on the streets.

"The Police must reform and undergo comprehensive systemic changes with transparency. The Police are also responsible for the incidents that have befallen our fellow Affan Kurniawan."

– Anastasya Lavenia contributed to the writing of this article

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/2044587/how-much-is-the-budget-for-brimobs-tactical-vehicle