Police Commissioner Suyudi Ensures No Nepotism in Polri Recruitment: High-Achieving Members Granted Career Opportunities
Police Commissioner Suyudi Ario Seto has promised to reform the internal workings of the Indonesian National Police (Polri) during his tenure as Chief of Police, succeeding Listyo Sigit Prabowo. One of the key reforms intended is to ensure there is no room for nepotism, transactions, or ‘sponsorship’ within the recruitment and human resource development processes of the force.
These remarks were made by Commissioner Suyudi during a fitness and propriety test at Commission III of the House of Representatives (DPR) in Senayan, Jakarta, on Thursday (1/10/2026).
In his presentation, Commissioner Suyudi explained that there would be six priority programmes for the transformation of the Polri. The first programme focuses on institutional strengthening.
Suyudi aims to simplify the Polri structure by reviewing approval layers that do not add value. “Six priority programmes for transformation. First, institutional strengthening. A strategic and lean Headquarters, professional and supportive Regional Police (Polda), strong District Police (Polres) as basic operational units, and resilient Sub-District Police (Polsek) that are closely connected to the community,” said Suyudi.
“This structure and approval layers that do not provide added value will be reviewed for simplification. This strengthening will focus on the front line based on workload, regional area, risk, access, and service needs,” he added.
The second programme involves human resource development and recruitment. He stated that the entire human resource cycle will be overhauled.
“The entire HR cycle will be improved, from planning, recruitment, education, placement, career, competence, welfare, to retirement. Meritocracy and integrity records will serve as the foundation,” he said.
He emphasised that there must be no room for ‘titipan’ (nepotism/influence-peddling). He stated that high-achieving members must be given career opportunities.
“There must be no room for influence-peddling, transactions, and sponsorship. High-achieving members will be protected and given career opportunities. Violations will be dealt with proportionally and consistently,” he explained.
The third programme is the strengthening of public services. According to him, Polri services must shift from merely fulfilling procedures to meeting the needs of citizens.
“The internal structure of Polri must not burden the community. Digitalisation must close the space for illegal levies (pungli). It should not require face-to-face interaction, but must be available to the public in need,” he stated.
The subsequent programme is the strengthening of law enforcement. Commissioner Suyudi wants the measure of success in law enforcement to no longer be judged solely by the number of cases handled.
“The measure of success will shift from the quantity of cases to the quality of handling. Accurate, legal, evidence-based, certain, and just. Case management, SP2HP (Police Investigation Result), supervision, case review, forensics, digital forensics, financial analysis, and asset tracking will be strengthened,” he explained.