Brimob Commander Emphasises Mobile Brigade as Last Resort in Handling Mass Actions

DEPOK, KOMPAS.com - The Commander of the Mobile Brigade Corps (Dankor) of the Indonesian National Police, Inspector General Ramdani Hidayat, has emphasised that Brimob represents the last resort in handling mass actions and will prioritise a humane approach before taking repressive measures.

“Handling crowds now does not necessarily require violence. We first demonstrate using soft power. There is the community guidance unit (Binmas), and the civil security unit (Sabhara). So, Brimob’s strength is the last strength,” said Ramdani at the Brimob Corps Headquarters in Kelapa Dua, Depok, West Java, on Tuesday (21/4/2026).

He explained that in managing protest actions, police functions such as Binmas and Sabhara would be prioritised first.

Meanwhile, Brimob would only be deployed if the situation veers towards anarchic actions.

“For protests, everyone is free to demonstrate, but if it leads to destruction, arson, endangering someone’s life, or even causing death, then we will act. That’s essentially it,” he stated.

Ramdani stressed that the freedom to express opinions in public remains respected.

However, actions that violate the law, such as damaging public facilities and violence, will not be tolerated.

This is particularly in facing potential security disruptions due to global dynamics, including the impact of international conflicts on the domestic economic situation.

According to him, potential security disruptions, including those triggered by rising energy prices, have been mapped by the Police Intelligence and Security Agency (Baintelkam) of Polri.

This information then serves as the basis for cross-functional and regional coordination.

“It’s not that we map it ourselves arbitrarily, no. It comes directly from BIK. We receive information from BIK, then we coordinate with the existing functional units, the regional units (Satwil), and also with relevant agencies,” he revealed.

Nevertheless, he assured that the security situation remains under control to date, and ongoing protests can still be handled by police ranks in their respective regions.

“Alhamdulillah, everything is still being managed. That’s why I say the current protests can still be handled by the regional units. Of course, we must all be prepared,” said Ramdani.