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.

Update: A National Police regulation decreed on 9 December was criticized by constitutional law experts as disobeying the Constitutional Court’s decision. The decree allows officers to take on government jobs relevant to police work that are requested by the employing institutions. A spokesperson for the National Police said Article 28(3) of the National Police Law allows for such postings and remains in force despite the Court’s ruling, but allowed that officers will be ‘reassigned’ after taking any such posting to prevent a police officer from holding two jobs simultaneously. However, critics maintain the purpose of the ruling was to prevent active-duty police from holding civilian roles indefinitely–a practice which the new decree explicitly allows.

Sources: Jakarta Post (1), Jakarta Post (2), Jakarta Post (3)