Legal Expert Urges Strict Limits on Placement of Police Officers in Civil Positions
A criminal law expert from Airlangga University (Unair) Surabaya, Maradona, is urging that the Revision of the National Police Law (RUU Polri) strictly and limitatively regulate the placement of active Indonesian National Police (Polri) members in civil positions. Such regulation is considered crucial to maintaining political neutrality and preventing the expansion of coercive power within the public domain.
Maradona emphasised this during a Public Hearing (RDPU) regarding the Police Bill held by Commission III of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) at the Parliament Complex, Senary, Jakarta, on Tuesday (2/6). According to him, the debate regarding the assignment of police personnel outside the institution should no longer merely question whether they are permitted to hold civil positions. The primary substance that lawmakers must address is the detailed boundaries and the mechanism for supervision.
“The question is not whether they are allowed to hold civil positions, but most importantly: which positions, for what functions, for how long, what is the legal basis, who supervises, and how can conflicts of interest be prevented,” stated Maradona.
Furthermore, he emphasised three main principles that should serve as the foundation for regulating police involvement in civil roles. First, the separation of pure civil positions must be maintained. While Maradona acknowledges that the core duties of the police—maintaining security, law enforcement, and public service—are broad, and that police competence may be needed in other fields, he warns that legal regulations must provide rigid and clear boundaries, particularly in distinguishing between pure civil roles and those related to police functions.
“If we are talking about pure civil positions, the current regulations requiring officers to retire or step down must be maintained.”
Second, he proposed a limitative list of positions. For roles outside the institution that are closely related to police functions, Maradona requested that the House of Representatives include a specific, limited list of positions directly within the articles of the Police Bill to prevent ambiguity in the future. “It must be established as a limitative list of positions; it cannot be left wide open. Therefore, this Law should regulate, for example, which specific positions and in which fields can be filled by police members, naturally linked to the three core functions of policing,” he concluded.