Police Reform Commission Proposes New Regulations for Handling Protests, Police Must Be Humane
Member of the KPRP Ahmad Dofiri stated that his side recommends the Indonesian National Police (Polri) to create Police Regulations (Perpol) and Chief of Police Regulations (Perkap) regarding the handling of demonstrations. According to him, Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo has responded to this matter.
“In the future, regarding the handling of protests, it will not be in the nature of security, but service. This is one of the slogans. This is what will be regulated and created in new Perkap or Perpol going forward,” Dofiri said to reporters in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, on Wednesday (6/5/2026).
Dofiri explained that current regulations describe the handling of demonstrations as escalatory. He wants to change it by prioritising de-escalation.
In previous regulations, the handling of protests was escalatory. Furthermore, Dofiri wants the handling of protests to be de-escalatory, prioritising negotiation.
“So if previously it was escalatory, involving layers of force deployment in response to certain situations. That’s how it was. However, going forward it must be de-escalation, prioritising, for example, negotiators here so that protest situations do not end in clashes,” he clarified.
Dofiri emphasised that the police’s goal is to serve, so they must build good communication with the masses. According to him, this handling pattern is starting to be implemented by Polri.
“This is what we hope for in the future, and I think the Chief of Police has already started. Several protests have been handled with more humane patterns. Going forward, it will be regulated that way, avoiding actions that involve violence,” he stated.
Furthermore, Member of the Police Reform Acceleration Commission Mahfud MD said there are many inputs, criticisms, or aspirations stating that the police have a militaristic culture like the military. According to Mahfud, that culture is not suitable for the police.
“Is the military style wrong? No, but it is not suitable for Polri. The military’s task is defence,” Mahfud said.
Mahfud explained that the military has a primary task of defence which is strictly command-based. Thus, command in the military is focused on superiors’ orders and tends to be repressive because its task is to defend the state.
“That’s not bad. That is not suitable for Polri, whose task is to nurture, serve, protect, and so on,” he clarified.
Mahfud assessed that militarism is not inherently bad if done by the military. However, it is not the police’s field.
“So don’t get the impression that militarism is bad. It’s not. It’s just not suitable. Like me, I shouldn’t pretend to be a policeman, right? I can’t wear a police uniform, or people will laugh. Similarly, police acting in a military style is just not suitable. It’s not their field, not the military,” he added.
Mahfud added that the police are not the military, but civilian police. Therefore, the police must be protagonists for society.
“What is civilian police? First, protagonists. You know, in films there are protagonists and antagonists. Protagonists are the characters that are the reference, the ones liked. So the police paradigm should be that people like them. Everyone wants to be friends with the police. Democratic, transparent, brotherly, that’s the protagonist,” he added.