Responding to the ratification of the Draft Law on the National Police (RUU Polri) at the House of Representatives (DPR) today, Amnesty International Indonesia Executive Director Usman Hamid, said:
"Today's ratification of the revisions to the RUU Polri should be criticised because it was carried out haphazardly by the DPR and the government. This legislative process was pushed through at excessive speed: less than a month from when the DPR officially adopted the bill as a DPR initiative on May 20, and only five days since the government submitted the Problem Inventory List (DIM) on June 4, until today when it was ratified at a plenary session.
Yet the public has long been demanding comprehensive reforms to the National Police in the midst of various human rights violations committed by police officers, one of which was through comprehensive revisions to the Police Law.
However, today the public's hopes have been shattered and the ratification of revisions to the Police Law that were not transparent again shows clearly the arrogance of the DPR and the government. Citizens' constitutional rights to meaningful participation in revising the Police Law have been arbitrarily ignored. Without transparency of academic texts or draft bills that can be officially accessed, this practice of closed legislation repeats the bad patterns of past legislation, such as in the drafting of revisions to the Indonesian Military (TNI) Law, the Omnibus Law on Job Creation (UU Cipta Kerja) and the revisions to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law.
The ratification of the revisions to the Police Law is clearly a red carpet towards authoritarianism. The most worrying substance is the expansion of permissions for active Polri members to hold civilian positions in government ministries or institutions without having to resign. This policy not only damages the merit system and career paths for the State Civil Service (ASN), but also betrays the mandate of reformasi – the political reform process that began in 1998 – which strictly limits the involvement of defence and security authorities in civil affairs. The expansion of the presence of police officers in civilian positions after last year's revisions to the TNI Law gave the same authority to the military, clearly shows concrete symptoms of authoritarianism, namely the use of defence and security forces to back power.
The disregard in the revisions to the Police Law for the November 2025 Constitutional Court (MK) ruling which required police officers to retire before holding civil positions, clearly shows a tendency to use the tools of the state simply to support power.
Even more ironic, the bill turns a blind eye to the crucial issue of social justice. In the midst of widespread criticism of human rights violations, violence and impunity by law enforcement officials, these revisions totally fail to substantially strengthen the role of the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) in ensuring strict supervision standards.
"In order to maintain accountable governance and based on human rights principles, this National Police Bill must be rejected".
Background
Today's DPR plenary session ratified the Draft Law on the Third Amendment to Law Number 2/2002 on the National Police of the Republic of Indonesia.
The deliberations on this regulation proceeded very quickly. Starting from when the DPR officially designated the bill as a DPR initiative on May 20 until its ratification at the plenary session today. Moreover only five days after the government submitted the DIM to the DPR on June 4, the revisions to the law were immediately agreed upon at the first level meeting at the DPR's Commission III, followed by ratification at the second level through the plenary meeting on the same day, June 9.
One of the changes in the revision of the Police Law is to extend the retirement age for police officers from the previous 58 years to 60 years, even for high-ranking four-star officers – a rank which ipso facto is currently only held by the National Police chief – this latest change means that there is no firm retirement age limit, and officers can serve as long as the president requires them.
The revisions to the law also mean that National Police members are permitted to hold positions in ministries and state institutions without having to resign from their duties at the National Police. This new legislation also fails to substantially strengthen the role of Kompolnas in supervising the police, such as direct supervision and imposing sanctions on members of the National Police who are involved in violating the law.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Tolak pengesahan ugal-ugalan Revisi UU Polri".]
