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View all search resultsPolice chief opposes proposal to place police under ministry
National Police Chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo has firmly opposed proposals to place the force under the supervision of a ministry, warning he would rather step down than see the police no longer report directly to the President.
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Police officers form a line on March 20, 2025, during a protest against the revision of the Indonesian Military (TNI) Law in Jakarta. (Antara/Bayu Pratama S.)
N
ational Police Chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo has firmly opposed proposals to place the force under the supervision of a ministry, warning he would rather step down than see the police no longer report directly to the President.
His statement came during a Monday meeting with the House of Representatives’ Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, alongside regional police chiefs across the country. The session was originally convened to review the force’s performance over the past year and outline plans for the year ahead.
“I want to state clearly, before all of you and the entire force, that I reject the idea of placing the police under a ministry. Even if offered the position of a ‘police minister’, I would rather become a farmer,” Listyo said, drawing applause from lawmakers.
Listyo, who has served as police chief since 2021 when former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was still in office, warned that establishing a ministerial post overseeing the police would risk creating dual leadership between the minister and the police chief.
He said that keeping the police directly under a sitting president has been the ideal practice in the country since the force was separated from the armed forces following the 1998 reform movement, allowing it “to function effectively as a state institution serving the public” and to focus on maintaining public order.
Debates over whether the police should remain under the President have resurfaced after the police reform committee, established by President Prabowo Subianto and tasked with reviewing changes to the force, revealed last week that the issue was among the topics under discussion.
The committee said the proposal drew on the model of the Indonesian Military (TNI), which operates under the Defense Ministry, but committee members remain divided, with some supporting the current police structure and others advocating for supervision by a ministry, either existing or newly created.
