House of Representatives Urges Police Not to Hesitate in Taking Firm Action Against Rule-Breaking Members
Chairman of Commission III of the DPR, Habiburokhman, has urged the National Police (Polri) not to be concerned about the existence of rule-breaking members. He stressed that the most important aspect is how Polri responds to those members.
This was stated by Habiburokhman during a public discussion titled ‘UNIPOL: Preparing Precise Polri Personnel’ at the Mutiara Auditorium of PTIK on Monday (13/4).
On that occasion, Habiburokhman initially discussed the ongoing acceleration of Polri’s transformation. He then praised Polri’s transparency in addressing violations by its members.
According to him, Polri is currently the most responsive and open institution regarding sanctions against its members compared to other institutions.
“We know that recently, demands for accelerating Polri’s reform have re-emerged alongside the increasing openness of democratic space,” he said.
He considered this a natural development. Habiburokhman emphasised that state institutions are indeed being urged to accelerate their own reforms.
One aspect closely related to reform, he said, concerns integrity. He stated that integrity challenges are always present in every state institution, including Polri.
Habiburokhman said that in the context of Polri, the institution’s integrity is tested when there are members who violate rules. However, he stressed that Polri’s leadership should not be worried about it as long as the institution dares to take firm action.
“I tell my friends in Polri’s top leadership, ‘don’t worry about rogue members’. Every institution surely has rogue members, surely some who violate rules,” he explained.
“The most important thing is how the institution responds to those rogue members. And I must say, Polri is the institution that provides the best response to violations committed by its rogue members,” he added.
This Gerindra politician then compared Polri’s transparency with other state institutions. According to him, among other bodies, the clarity of sanctions against violators is often difficult for the public to monitor.
“With apologies, we’ve followed that in other institutions, apologies, when violations occur, we can’t track what the sanctions are, whether they’re just detained or prosecuted legally. If Polri members violate even slightly, they’re PTDH, right? And all this is done openly,” he said.
Therefore, he appreciated Polri’s stance under the leadership of Chief of Police General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, who is not allergic to openness. For him, transparency is the best way to show the people that violations by rogue members are not institutional policy.
“So I see that Polri under Mr Sigit is not allergic to openness. Just like in the DPR, our only weapon that can save us is openness,” he said.
“No matter how bad we are, but if we’re open, the people will surely still give us some leeway. That’s also what the current Polri leadership is doing by promoting openness,” he continued.
Furthermore, Habiburokhman assured that Commission III of the DPR will continue to push for transparent law enforcement processes through General Hearing Meetings (RDPU). He also welcomed Polri’s steps in promptly following up on findings or conclusions from the DPR.
“The people can finally see how firm Polri is in addressing rogue members who commit violations,” he explained.
“We encourage open processes, but the very good response shown by Polri is to immediately act on what we conclude. That’s what we continue to push for,” he concluded.