Aceng Syamsul Hadie: Indonesian National Police (POLRI) needed a Total Reform to Achieve Public Trust.

MAJALENGKA,tvkito.com, Sunday 28th September,2025,- The Indonesian National Police Reform is basically a process of thoroughly improving police institutions to conform to the principles of democratic states, fair law enforcement, transparency, and professionalism.

“Currently, the National Police needs a Total Reform to achieve a public trust that has fallen far,” said Aceng Syamsul Hadie, S.Sos., MM. as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the DPP ASWIN (International Association of Journalists).

As an input in the form of ideas and ideas for the National Police Reform Team formed by President Prabowo that this reform is important because public trust in the National Police often goes up and down even due to cases of abuse of authority, excessive violence, corruption, to legal engineering and conflicts of interest.

“This means that there needs to be a change in the system, structure, institution, and culture in the police body, so that there is a shift in the old paradigm to a new paradigm, which was once an armed ruler turned into a police officer as a protector, paddler, and public servant,” added Aceng Syamsul Hadie.

Ensure public accountability for every police action and guarantee that the police work for the benefit of the law and the people, not for the benefit of certain groups.

Aceng Syamsul Hadie emphasized that in order to achieve good reform and according to people’s expectations, there are several aspects that must be reformed, including:

1. Structural

Structural reform is the replacement of elite Polri officials (leader reform) which is the leadership structure, including the National Police Chief, Deputy Chief of Police, Head of Criminal Investigation Agency and Head of Propam, that position is the leadership elite structure, which is the main motor for policy direction. So the purpose of this reshuffle is to break the old pattern chain.

If the head of the leadership is still the old one, then the old pattern is still attached (authoritarian, transactional, corruptive), it is certain that the changes in the police’s body are very difficult to proceed and the reform is predicted to fail.

2. Institutional

Institutional reform is to reduce excessive centralization, strengthen regional police autonomy with a healthy central control mechanism. Improving recruitment, promotion, and mutation mechanisms to be more meritocratic, not because of closeness or money, simplifies the internal bureaucracy to quickly respond to people’s needs.

3. Human Resources (HR) & Culture

The change of mentality from ruler to public servant, where education and training emphasizes ethics, human rights, conflict mediation, and moral leadership, resulting in strict and transparent sanctions against the law-breaking police (zero tolerance).

4. Surveillance & Accountability System

Strengthen internal supervisory institutions (Propam) to be independent and enhance the role of external supervisors (Kompolnas, DPR, civil society) and implement digital transparency: body cam, CCTV, trial records, open reports to the public.

5. Law Enforcement

Removing the practice of chopping and buying and selling cases, then how to ensure that the police are neutral in politics and free of oligarchic interests and it is no less important that the police should put forward restorative justice for light, not necessarily repressive cases.

6. Relationship With Society

Building community policing (Village Police) to be close to the community and to be an active partner of the community in maintaining security, not just action officers, so the police must open a dialogue room when there is a conflict, not immediately repressive.

7. Budget Transparency & Logistics

The management of the Indonesian National Police’s open budget can be publicly audited and reduces the police’s dependence on unofficial sources of funds (e.g. from ticketing or project deposit).

“The main goal of Indonesian National Police Reform is to rebuild the public trust (community trust), to make Indonesian National Police a professional, humanist, neutral, and modern institution and to realize the police that truly conforms to the motto: Precision (Predictive, Responsibility, Transparency, Justice)”, he concluded. [Jun and Team ] Source: Aceng Syamsul Hadie.  Editor: Editorial Team.