Prabowo Decides Polri Remains Directly Under the President
President Prabowo Subianto has decided that the Indonesian National Police (Polri) will remain directly under the president, rather than under a ministry. Prabowo expressed this position during a discussion with the Commission for Accelerating Police Reform at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday, 5 May 2026.
Following the meeting, the Police Reform Commission stated that Prabowo does not agree with the idea of establishing a security ministry or a police ministry.
“The position of Polri remains as it is now; Polri is directly under the president,” said Yusril Ihza Mahendra, a member of the Police Reform Commission who also serves as Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections.
Therefore, Yusril stated, the government will not form a new ministry for Polri. The government also will not place the police under any existing ministry, such as the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Meanwhile, Jimly Asshiddiqie, Chairman of the Police Reform Commission, stated that his team did not recommend a ministry to oversee Polri. “We have agreed that we do not propose the establishment of a new ministry,” Jimly said.
Jimly recounted that the Police Reform Commission also concluded that a police ministry would bring more negative impacts than positive ones. “The President asked about it earlier, and we explained that our conclusion is that there are more harms than benefits, so we won’t propose it,” he said.
The Police Reform Commission completed its recommendations in February 2026. However, the commission only met with Prabowo at the beginning of May. The recommendations for improving the police institution are the result of the Commission’s study over approximately three months.
The Commission for Accelerating Police Reform was established following calls for police reform after mass demonstrations at the end of August 2025. Various groups assessed that the police had abused their authority in handling the protests.
The demonstrations resulted in ten deaths, including online motorcycle taxi driver Affan Kurniawan, who was run over by a Polri Mobile Brigade tactical vehicle on Pejompongan Street, Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, on Thursday, 28 August 2025.
When meeting with several civil society figures from the Nurani Bangsa Movement in September 2025, Prabowo expressed his willingness to reform Polri. Prabowo then formed the police reform commission one month later.