The agenda to transform the Indonesian National Police (Polri) continues to gain urgency amid persistent institutional challenges related to organizational management, internal cohesion, oversight, and misconduct involving corruption, online gambling, and narcotics.
The diagnosis of Polri’s institutional problems also extends to the conduct of its personnel, who are frequently perceived by the public as displaying hedonistic lifestyles, committing human rights violations, and lacking a gender-sensitive approach in handling victims of violence. These recurring issues have negatively affected public confidence in the institution.
SETARA Institute Executive Director Ismail Hasani stated that the Institute identified 130 current issues affecting Polri. These problems are spread across nearly all work units and constitutional mandates of the institution, including public protection and service, maintaining public order and security, and law enforcement.
“These 130 issues were consolidated into 12 themes and further distilled into five major challenges that require a systemic response from Polri. While gradual improvements have been made and public trust has increased, a closer examination shows that many of these issues remain prevalent,” he said during an interview with Media Indonesia in Jakarta on Tuesday (October 9).
Halili outlined the five most urgent challenges in advancing Polri’s transformation: accountability and oversight, law enforcement, education governance, organizational and human resource management, public security and order, and public protection and service.
“Externally, Polri also faces challenges arising from global megatrends that will shape Indonesia’s development, including urbanization, international trade integration, shifts in global finance, increasing competition for natural resources, technological change, climate change, and geopolitical dynamics. Within the context of Polri’s mandate, these challenges must be addressed through a human security approach,” he explained.
He further noted that Polri continues to face significant challenges in ensuring democratic law enforcement, strengthening institutional integrity, improving responsive public services, and establishing transformative governance. As a result, police reform has yet to produce substantial change.
“Although there have been sporadic improvements, particularly in modernizing public services, Polri still faces systemic challenges in contributing to national resilience and good governance, as envisioned under the fourth pillar of Indonesia Vision 2045,” he added.
Findings
SETARA Institute’s latest research, titled “Designing Police Transformation to Support Indonesia Vision 2045,” found that the Professional and Security Division (Propam) recorded the highest number of institutional issues (41), followed by the Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) with 37, Baharkam with 35, Inspectorate General (Itwasum) with 21, Baintelkam with 9, Brimob Corps with 9, Traffic Corps (Korlantas) with 8, Police Education Institute (Lemdikpol) with 6, and Densus 88 with 6.
Expert assessments also identified key priority issues facing Polri: accountability in law enforcement (82%), accountability in public service functions (66.3%), police oversight performance (68.9%), public protection and service (64.3%), and organizational governance and human resource management (41.3%).
According to SETARA Institute researcher Ikhsan Yosarie, expanding Polri’s authority through revisions to the Police Law is premature.
“Granting additional powers to Polri through revisions to the Police Law is not the right step. Oversight remains the second-highest priority issue at 68.9%, yet the proposed amendments fail to strengthen oversight mechanisms, particularly by expanding the authority of the National Police Commission (Kompolnas),” he said.
Ikhsan further explained that 51.2% of experts believe Polri has not yet fulfilled the principles of democratic and humanistic policing. This indicates that respect for human rights has not been fully integrated into the institution’s conduct and operational practices.
“This condition weakens the prioritization of human rights values, allowing a culture of violence to persist while limiting opportunities for meaningful public participation,” he explained.
Regarding integrity and anti-corruption, 58.7% of experts believe Polri still requires significant improvement. This is reflected in weak compliance with legal and ethical standards, including a tendency for law enforcement responses to be driven by cases that gain viral attention on social or mass media.
“However, 24.6% of experts believe Polri has made adequate progress in this area. This reflects improvements such as simplifying public services to reduce opportunities for bribery and brokerage,” Ikhsan added.
Data from the Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia in 2023 recorded 7,392 public complaints, with Polri ranking as the third most complained-about public institution, receiving 679 complaints.
Based on these findings, Ikhsan proposed a policy framework called the “Four Pillars of Police Transformation,” designed to align Indonesia Vision 2045 with international standards on democratic policing and security sector governance.
“The framework aims to build a democratic and humanistic police force, a police institution with integrity and anti-corruption values, a proactive and modern police force, and a precise and transformative institution. Under these four pillars, SETARA Institute recommends 12 policy agendas, 12 strategic objectives, 25 implementation strategies, and 50 priority actions for Polri,” he explained.
Ikhsan expressed hope that the President and the House of Representatives would adopt the proposed transformation framework when strengthening Polri, including during revisions to Law No. 2 of 2002 on the Indonesian National Police.
“The detailed findings of this study can serve as a basis for strengthening oversight mechanisms, whether by the National Police Commission (Kompolnas), Commission III of the House of Representatives, or civil society organizations. As a comprehensive institutional assessment, this report can become a valuable reference for researchers and advocates of security sector reform in promoting greater institutional accountability.”
Representing Polri’s Planning Division, Senior Commissioner Benny Iskandar Hasibuan, Head of the Legal Affairs Section, welcomed the research findings and viewed them as an important reference for the institution’s future transformation.
“We appreciate the identification of these 130 issues. Going forward, we will work together to categorize them into strategic action plans so that by 2045 these problems can be resolved. We will incorporate these findings into our strategies to improve Polri’s performance in the future,” he said.
Source: mediaindonesia.com