JakartaPost-March 26, 2025
House of Representatives lawmakers have pledged to involve the public “meaningfully” in the deliberation of future bills, including a proposed revision to the 2002 Police Law, amid mounting public anger over a recent hasty, closed-door revision of the Indonesian Military (TNI) Law. Protests have broken out in major cities such as Bandung and Surabaya since the House passed the TNI Law revision on Thursday following what critics called a rushed, opaque deliberation process. The bill was passed about a month after President Prabowo Subianto requested that the legislature discuss a revision to the law. The legislative process included a closed-door meeting of lawmakers in a luxury Jakarta hotel, which was disrupted by human rights activists calling on the meeting’s participants to stop the revision. Following the bill’s passage into law, concerns have been growing that the House may take the same approach in its revision of the Police Law. National Mandate Party (PAN) lawmaker Sarifuddin Sudding asked the public not to worry, claiming the House had committed to ensuring openness and transparency in the legislative process. “We have agreed that deliberations of any bills, including the revision of the Police Law, will have to involve meaningful public participation,” Sudding, a member of House Commission III overseeing law enforcement, told The Jakarta Post. “We’ll no longer hold closed-door meetings. Commission III will invite everyone, from experts to non-governmental organizations, to hear their insights,” he continued. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2025/03/26/house-vows-openness-public-participation-in-police-law-revision.html.
