Tito urges police leadership students to base policy on science and data

Indonesian Interior Minister Muhammad Tito Karnavian told police leadership students that authority alone cannot make a strong leader.

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For every decision, I ask you always to make decisions based on science, based on data.

Speaking at a national dialogue for students of the Police Education and Training Institute’s School of Staff and Leadership in Jakarta, Tito urged them to base decisions and policies on science and data. He said future strategic leaders would face problems requiring decisions that are both quick and accurate.

Tito said students should first understand each problem through references, data collection and sound methodology. Formal education, he added, should not serve only to obtain a degree. At undergraduate level, it should train students to move from decisions based on feeling to a systematic scientific approach.

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The target of a bachelor’s degree is simply to change the way of thinking, from making decisions based only on feeling to using systematic, scientific thinking.

He said higher levels of education should build stronger skills in finding references, applying methods, analyzing data and drawing conclusions. Knowledge, gained through experience, learning from others and reading, would give leaders more references when confronting problems. Tito also encouraged participants to expand their education, including through study abroad, which he said could provide knowledge, cultural understanding and international networks.

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We may have power, as a police chief, regional police chief, prosecutor, or perhaps a commander in the military, but power is not enough.