Colonial Legacy Behind the Brown Uniform

Marieke Bloembergen, a Dutch historian specialising in the study of colonial history in Southeast Asia, published the intriguing book Police in the Dutch East Indies Era: From Concern and Fear (2011). The book is not merely a historical reconstruction. It is an institutional autopsy — a deep dissection of how colonial policing was formed not from principles of public service, but from the logic of social control. According to Bloembergen’s findings, the police in the Dutch East Indies were an extension of power that operated on three pillars: institutionalised violence, absolute vertical loyalty, and structural distance from the governed populace. The task of the police in the Dutch East Indies was not to protect the native population, but to safeguard order — namely, the system that served the interests of the rulers. Although Bloembergen’s findings from that era feel distant, buried in Leiden’s archives, they suddenly resonate very closely when the National Police Reform Acceleration Commission (KPRP) submitted its 10 recommended books to President Prabowo Subianto at Merdeka Palace on 5 May 2026. Bloembergen documented two layers of policing in the Dutch East Indies. At the upper stratum was the Europeesche Politie — the first-class police who oversaw Europeans and managed political intelligence. Meanwhile, at the lower layer stood the Inlandsche Politie — the native police tasked with maintaining the subjugation of the people. This hierarchy was not merely a division of labour; it was a reflection of the colonial worldview that power flows from top to bottom, not from the people upwards. When Indonesia gained independence in 1945, our police institution was inherited almost intact from the colonial police structure. Police office buildings, ranking systems, even militaristic drill traditions — all are transplants from a system designed not to serve citizens, but to manage them for the rulers. This is what makes the KPRP’s findings feel compatible.