Academic calls for special law to strengthen Kompolnas

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Dean of the Faculty of Law at Universitas Muhammadiyah Tangerang (FH UMT), Dr. Auliya Khasanofa, stated that a special law is needed to strengthen the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) as an independent institution. “Kompolnas should instead be regulated specifically through its own law,” Auliya said in a statement confirmed in Jakarta on Wednesday. Therefore, she continued, it would not be appropriate to include the strengthening of Kompolnas as an independent institution merely within the revision of the Indonesian National Police Law. According to her, the existence of Kompolnas has a strategic function in the national police oversight system, thus requiring a strong, independent legal foundation separate from Polri institutional regulations. “Therefore, its regulation should not be included partially in the revision of the Polri Law, but rather established through a Kompolnas Law,” she said. Auliya revealed that if the regulation of Kompolnas remains attached to the Polri Law, the institutional independence of Kompolnas is feared not to be optimal. However, she added, in a modern democratic state, external oversight institutions must have strong legitimacy and authority to carry out control functions over law enforcement institutions. For this reason, she suggested that the Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Correctional Services consider the establishment of specific regulations regarding Kompolnas in the national legal reform agenda. “The momentum of discussing the revision of the Polri Law should serve as an entry point to strengthen the independent police oversight system. One of them is by pushing for the birth of a Law on Kompolnas,” said Auliya. In addition, she hopes that the government and the DPR can open wider space for dialogue with academics, civil society, and constitutional law experts so that the future institutional design of Kompolnas can truly address the demands of police reform and the principle of ‘check and balance’ in a state of law. One of the KPRP recommendations is to strengthen Kompolnas into an independent institution with the authority to oversee Polri. The strengthening of Kompolnas is intended so that in carrying out its duties, it is not limited to providing strategic advice in the field of Polri administration and input regarding the dismissal and appointment of the National Police Chief, but also conducts oversight related to governance in the fields of Polri development and operations, as well as investigations in enforcing the Polri professional code of ethics.