Indonesia's Constitutional Court begins review of police law

Indonesia's Constitutional Court has commenced a formal review of the nation's police law, Law Number 5 of 2026 concerning the Indonesian National Police (UU Polri). The initial hearing, held on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, focused on preliminary examination of the case.

The petition, filed by Zulfikar Putra Utama and Muhammad Ezra Suhaeri, contends that the law suffers from procedural defects. Specifically, the applicants argue that the bill was not harmonized within the legislative body's working committee (Baleg) before being designated as an initiative proposal by the DPR in a plenary session on May 20, 2026.

According to Zulfikar, the formation of the police law allegedly disregarded crucial principles of legislative procedure. He cited the neglect of openness, utility, and meaningful public participation. "The drafting of the Polri Bill did not involve Baleg at all to carry out the harmonization function as mandated by Article 46 Paragraph 2 of the PPP Law and Article 129 of DPR RI Regulation 1/2020," Zulfikar stated, as reported by the Constitutional Court's official website on Wednesday, July 8, 2026.

Given these arguments, the petitioners are requesting the Constitutional Court to declare Law Number 5 of 2026 invalid. They argue it does not comply with the constitutional requirements for lawmaking. Constitutional Justice M. Guntur Hamzah advised the petitioners to complete their submission, particularly clarifying the legal standing of the two applicants and their affiliation with the Indonesian Parliamentary Center (IPC). Chief Justice Suhartoyo granted the petitioners 14 days to refine their request, with the next hearing scheduled to address the core points of the amended petition.