June 4, 2026
JAKARTA – While other key institutions have undergone reform following the dissolution of the authoritarian New Order regime in the late 1990s, the National Police have proven to be an outlier.
As the Indonesian Military (TNI) submitted to civilian control in the first two decades of the reform era and scaled down their non-defense roles, the police have only grown in stature and clout.
At first, the proposal to separate the police from the TNI sounded like the most logical proposition to curb the institution’s militaristic tendencies so that it could focus on maintaining public order.
In the early years of the reform era, placing the National Police under the direct authority of the President may have seemed like a sensible idea, especially when the executive branch of the government was first among equals and checks and balances were still the order of the day.
Past presidents may have been tempted to abuse their authority over the police force but at the very least, the political norms of the day—if not practical considerations—prevented them from going down that route.
Throughout his 10 years in office, president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono installed four national police chiefs without a hitch while his predecessor, Megawati Soekarnoputri, who made the formal decision to separate the police from the military, gave the institution a little tough love.
But then an unscrupulous president came along.
A self-made politician with no political party of his own, then-president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo found in the National Police the perfect vehicle to do his bidding in the increasingly murky waters of national politics.
From the beginning of his administration, Jokowi pulled out all the stops to install his loyalist to be the National Police chief, including by appointing a placeholder as the country’s top cop for three years before he could appoint Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, a former aide who once served as a local chief in his hometown of Surakarta, Central Java.
And for Jokowi, loyalty was what counts the most.
Despite numerous scandals, including one of the biggest cover-ups in the history of the force, the murder of a junior officer by the hands of special crime unit chief Brig. Gen. Ferdy Sambo, Jokowi stood by Listyo and kept him at the post despite mounting calls for his resignation.
When critics demanded Listyo’s resignation following the Kanjuruhan incidence which led to the death of 132 football fans in Malang, East Java, in October 2022, Jokowi responded only with a shrug.
Despite reports of frequent cases of police brutality, Listyo’s momentum continued and his leadership was instrumental in securing the transition of power from Jokowi to the incumbent President Prabowo Subianto.
In fact, in the period leading to the 2024 general election, the police got a new moniker, “Parcok”, short for Partai Coklat (brown party), referring to the color of police uniform, given their indispensable role in delivering a win for the Jokowi-Prabowo coalition.
In less than 10 years, the National Police has played a dual role of both maintaining public order while also serving as a political machine for an incumbent president, something that in the New Order regime was the prerogative of the Armed Forces.
These days, under the administration of President Prabowo, together with the Indonesian Military, Gen. Listyo’s force continued to play that dual role. From running the free nutritious meal program kitchens to planting rice and corn for the country’s food sustainability program, the force is now at the service of the new president.
The House of Representatives’ initiative late last month to amend the police law is the logical next step of the politicization—if not personalization—of the police force. If approved, the new law would allow Listyo to serve as chief until 2029.
Never in the country’s 25 years of reform has the security sector been in greater jeopardy from the executive branch of the government—in collusion with the legislative—to weaponize the police force in its fight for political survival.