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View all search resultsLaw revision to expand Komnas HAM’s role met with doubt
Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai told lawmakers about a plan to grant more power to state bodies overseeing human rights issues, including the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).
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Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai (right) delivers his presentation on Feb. 2, 2026, during a meeting with House of Representatives Commission XIII overseeing law and human rights at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta. (Antara/Dhemas Reviyanto)
A
plan to allow the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to investigate gross human rights violation cases stipulated in the revision to the 1999 Human Rights Law has sparked skepticism among rights activists and concerns that the move will weaken the country’s human rights bodies.
A proposed law revision would grant more power to state bodies overseeing human rights issues, namely Komnas HAM, the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) and the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI), Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai said.
“In the draft law, we will give all human rights institutions more authority, [including] to receive complaints [on alleged human rights cases], conduct investigations, carry out prosecutions, summon people and submit amicus brief,” Pigai said during a meeting with House of Representatives Commission XIII overseeing law and human rights affairs in Jakarta on Monday.
He added technical details on these additional authorities would require further discussion with the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and the National Police, especially on how investigation authority would be shared between Komnas HAM and law enforcement agencies.
Commission XIII deputy chair Sugiat Santoso of Gerindra Party supported Pigai’s suggestion.
“If authority to investigate can be granted [to institutions overseeing human rights], it would mark a historic achievement for the Human Rights Ministry,” he said during the meeting.
Another commission member, Rieke Diah Pitaloka of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), called the revision necessary to incorporate developments on international human rights principles and several conventions ratified by Indonesia. The new law would also align it with other new regulations, such as the Criminal Code (KUHP).
