Tito Calls for More Proactive Legislation

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian has recommended that legislation take a more proactive, anticipatory approach in future. He made the proposal at the 2026 National Legal Development Forum in Jakarta on Thursday.

He said Indonesia’s lawmaking process more often takes a responsive approach, reacting to problems after they arise.

“Once a problem occurs, only then do people look into the situation, make corrections and draft a law. That is often how it happens. We may need to change our mindset: anticipate the problems that could emerge, and then make the rules,” he said.

He cited the Bali bombings as an example, saying the government only began working urgently on regulations after the attacks had taken place.

At the time, he added, other countries had already experienced various terrorist attacks and established rules to support adequate prevention and enforcement.

Tito said many other laws and regulations had been drawn up in a similar way, often causing more harm than benefit.

“I would advise thinking first about the problems that need to be anticipated, and then drafting the laws,” he said.

Tito said he had also applied this approach to local governments, instructing them to identify a problem before drafting a regional regulation.

Under Law No. 23 of 2014 on Regional Government, he said, the Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for evaluating and providing guidance to local governments across Indonesia.

Local governments have various forms of legal product, he said, including regional regulations agreed and enacted by regional councils (DPRD), regulations issued by regional heads, governor, regent and mayor regulations, and village regulations.

“There are indeed so many. In the slide presented earlier by the Minister of Law, we saw 10,300 regional regulations being harmonised. But the total is far higher than that,” the Home Affairs Minister said.