Arientha Primanita – A new legal foundation has given the National Police Commission the teeth it needs to monitor the work of the police, officials said on Monday at the inauguration of the body's new commissioners.

Djoko Suyanto, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, said after the inauguration ceremony at the State Palace that the commission, previously criticized as ineffective as a watchdog, has been given greater powers under a 2011 presidential decree.

"There are new aspects that will allow Kompolnas to be sharper," he said, referring to the commission by its abbreviation. "[Working] with civil society groups, this will help lead to improvement in the National Police."

Djoko added that whereas Kompolnas was previously just a forum for citizens to file complaints about the police, now it was empowered to follow through on those complaints, all the way to trial.

Adrianus Eliasta Meliala, one of the newly sworn-in commissioners and a professor of criminology, said the new decree gives Kompolnas a channel to provide input to the police.

"Now we're coming straight from the president. Any input we give to the National Police is being made in the name of the president, so we can be harsh," he said.

He said the most pressing job ahead for Kompolnas's nine new commissioners was to improve the police's human resource system, where promotions and placements are fueled largely by bribes to superiors.

Adrianus said another issue that needed to be addressed was that of heavy-handed investigation techniques.

A rights group noted on Sunday that 30 people had been tortured while arrested, interrogated or detained in the first four months of the year. Ten people were killed in those cases, according to the study by the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam).

The new Kompolnas commissioners include two former police generals, Logan Siagian and Syafriadi Cut Ali, as well as three ministers, including Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi and Justice Minister Amir Syamsuddin. Djoko will chair the commission.

There are also three commissioners representing the civil society: Edi Saputra Hasibuan, a former journalist; Hamidah Abdurrachman, a law professor; and M. Nasser, a psychologist. Amir was not at Monday's swearing-in because he was out of town.