Police Reform Commission Proposes Demilitarisation of Indonesian Police Work Culture, Starting from Recruitment

JAKARTA - The Chairman of the Commission for Accelerating Police Reform, Jimly Asshiddiqie, stated that his commission recommends demilitarising the work culture in the Bhayangkara Corps. This is because there have been many instances of police violence against civilians in the past. “Including demilitarising the work culture. Oh, that is included. And the President is very concerned about the uniform issue, and so on,” Jimly said during a press conference at the Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday (5/5/2026). On the same occasion, the President’s Special Advisor for Public Security and Police Reform, Ahmad Dofiri, mentioned that they will remanage how police recruitment and human resource management are handled. In addition, Dofiri acknowledged that police officers seeking promotions must pay. “In the field of development, three things: governance related to human resource management, which is currently being debated, how to recruit police officers, there is payment for all sorts of things, it is rigid, starting from recruitment, education, to mutations and promotions,” Dofiri added. Previously, the Acting Head of the Police Education and Training Agency (Kalemdiklat) Polri, Irjen Andi Rian Djajadi, revealed that they plan to abolish the overly militaristic basic education for police cadets. Andi Rian stated that habits of prospective Bhayangkara carrying weapons, wearing helmets, and carrying backpacks filled with bricks will be eliminated. Andi Rian said that they will look to foreign examples of proper basic police education. He reiterated that Polri will eliminate this militaristic culture from the very beginning of a Bhayangkara’s education. “Because this is part of the militaristic aspect. We will seek benchmarks from other countries on how to properly form a Bhayangkara in basic education, no longer carrying weapons, backpacks filled with bricks or sand. This is our effort to eliminate the militaristic culture,” he added.