Jakarta – The Civil Society Coalition for Police Reform rejects the rushed ratification of the Draft Law on the National Police of the Republic of Indonesia (RUU Polri).
The Coalition consists of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR), the Centre for Legal and Policy Studies (PSHK), the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta), the Community Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Masyarakat), the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet), Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), the Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), the Kurawal Foundation, the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) and WeSpeakUp.org.
In a statement, the Coalition said that the revised National Police Law (UU Polri) was drafted haphazardly without involving public participation. In addition to this, the material in the revisions to the law actually contains regulations that are contrary to the mandate and spirit of police reform.
"The Coalition has got wind of a strong political power agenda in the revisions to the Police Law and believes that these revisions will not benefit society and will in fact close the room for improvements as demanded by reform of the National Police", said the Coalition on Tuesday June 9.
In addition to this, the Coalition also believes that the lightning fast ratification of the revisions to the Police Law proves that the police reform touted by President Prabowo Subianto is a lie and just empty talk.
The Coalition noted that the process of revising the National Police Law should have been carried out in a transparent and accountable manner so that the drafting process was easily accessible and could be monitored by the public. It is considered that the absence of transparency resulted in closing the space for equal participation between policy makers and the public.
Second, the revision of the law should not have been done in a hurry. The coalition emphasised the need for care so that regulations are produced that answer the problems and needs of the ordinary people, not add to the problems.
"Third, the draft RUU Polri actually provides legitimacy for the practice of [holding] multiple police positions without resigning which is contrary to the TAP MPR [People Consultative Assembly Decree] and MK [Constitutional Court] Ruling Number 114/PUU-XXIII/2025", they said.
The formulation of Article 28 A of the law is considered to facilitate space for active members of the National Police to occupy positions in government ministries and agencies as long as they are related to the duties and functions of the police, but without clear limitations.
Fourth, strengthening the independence and function of the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) is absolutely necessary to regulate the substance of the National Police Law. Aside from that, Kompolnas' position must be independent as an external supervisory institution outside the executive power structure and other ministries and government Institutions.
Fifth, the Coalition believes that increasing the retirement age limit to 60-63 years has no clear basis and urgency. It is feared that this will have an impact on hampering the process of personnel regeneration within the police, but will not solve the problem of increasing the number of internal police members.
Sixth, the coalition believes that Article 19A in the revised Police Law clearly fails to improve police accountability because it only relies on internal oversight. This mechanism has proven to be ineffective in stopping cases of violence, abuse of authority and impunity committed by members of the National Police.
Seventh, Article 9 of the government's Problem Inventory List (DIM) of the Draft National Police Law provides additional regulations on the authority of the National Police chief but without regulating term limits and accountability mechanisms or supervision of the National Police chief who has a position directly under the president.
Finally, Article 19 of the revised law is considered to provide legitimacy to the practice of using repressive force as a policing approach without strict supervision and restrictions. (tfq/isn)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Koalisi Sipil Tolak Pengesahan Kilat RUU Polri di DPR".]