It’s been a bad couple of years for Indonesia’s police, or Polri, beset by a series of high-profile scandals. A two-star general shot dead his adjutant. Police firing tear gas at football fans in Kanjuruhan Stadium set off a deadly stampede which left 135 dead. A chief inspector was jailed for selling drugs seized from traffickers.
Indonesian and international media covered these and other stories for weeks, severely embarrassing the police. Twenty-five years on from the end of the Suharto regime and Indonesia looks to have missed its best chance of reforming the organisation.
Trust in Polri has reduced significantly. The police not only lost their confidence but also their pride and public support. Polri successfully improved their image based on the graphics below but reducing crime (instrumental justice) is somehow inevitably put aside.
