There’s a joke in Indonesia: NKRI, the widely used acronym for the republic, in fact stands for Negara Kepolisian Republik Indonesia — “Indonesia is a Police State”. Caricatures and memes in social media show how powerful the police are in the Indonesian justice system today.
Indonesians may joke about it, but they are in deadly earnest. In the reforms that swept Indonesia following the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998, the police seem to have escaped scrutiny. Reform is not complete until the justice system is addressed.
During the 32-year Suharto regime, the army was the most powerful political institution. It could overrule the criminal justice system including the police, prosecutors and judges to oppress the regime's political opponents.
