Indonesia - November 2025

Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruled on 17 November that the practice of police officers holding additional government jobs is unconstitutional. The 2002 National Police Law contained two conflicting provisions on whether police officers could hold another government job simultaneously, and the ruling struck down the passage, which the justices ruled created legal ambiguity. Over 4,000 police officers hold second government jobs, about 300 of whom are in high-ranking managerial positions. Appointments of the latter have become more common under President Prabowo Subianto, and the ruling was welcomed by democracy advocates as part of preventing a return to the ‘dual function’ role of the security forces of Sukarno-era Indonesia.

Sources: Jakarta Post (1), Jakarta Post (2)

Indonesia’s House of Representatives passed the Criminal Procedure Bill (KUHAP) into law on 18 November, the most broad-reaching changes to procedural criminal law in 40 years. Civil society critics and legal experts say the bill transfers too much investigatory authority to the police, at the expense of judicial or parliamentary oversight. The government maintains the changes are needed to streamline outdated processes. For example, police will now be able to search and seize assets, conduct surveillance and authorize wiretaps without prosecutorial permission or oversight. Civil society experts have criticized the process of the bill’s passage, saying that it was only made public hours before passing into law and the parliament misled the public about the scale of civil society involvement, and have urged President Prabowo Subianto to repeal it.

Sources: Tempo, Jakarta Post, Fulcrum