Country

Justice and public safety in Indonesia

Indonesia is a unitary, decentralised civil-law republic with all justice functions national. It has two apex courts — a Supreme Court and a Constitutional Court — a national police that reports directly to the President, and a prosecution that is within the executive but functionally independent. New national criminal and procedure codes came into force in January 2026, and the province of Aceh applies Islamic criminal law to Muslims through Sharia courts that remain part of the national judiciary.

Fact-checkedSafety review clearedLast updated 27 July 2026Last reviewed 27 July 2026

Institutional facts on these pages were checked against their sources on 27 July 2026. Where a cited provision carries a scheduled change, the page states the date.

Indonesia (Republik Indonesia) is a unitary, decentralised republic with a civil-law tradition of Dutch derivation, layered with customary law (hukum adat) and, in one province, Islamic criminal law. The 1945 Constitution (UUD 1945, as amended 1999–2002) declares "the State of Indonesia is a unitary state in the form of a Republic" (Pasal 1(1)) and makes the judicial power "an independent power to administer justice" (Pasal 24(1)). It is divided into provinces, regencies and cities — but none of the four justice functions is a provincial subject; all are national.

The system runs through national institutions: two apex courts (the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court), the single national Prosecution Service, POLRI, and a national prison service. New national criminal and procedure codes came into force on 2 January 2026, replacing the Dutch-colonial penal code.

Jurisdictions modelled

A territory can exist administratively without being a separate legal jurisdiction. This table records, for each modelled tier and territory, whether it has its own arrangement for a function, whether the function is organised nationally, or whether we have simply not researched it.

Functional scope of each modelled Indonesia jurisdiction
Jurisdiction	Level	Courts	Prosecution	Policing
Republic of Indonesia	country	own	own	own

unknown means not researched. It is never a synonym for none: an unresearched territory does not inherit the metropolitan arrangement.

What has not been researched

These areas have no page. That is a statement about our research, not about Indonesia: each of these institutions exists, and we have simply not established enough from primary sources to write about it responsibly.

Forensic systemNot researched: The organisation of forensic science in Indonesia (the police forensic laboratory and the forensic-medicine services) has not been read to the standard required, and forensics is a safety-sensitive section where an under-sourced description is specifically forbidden.
Border and customsNot researched: Border and customs in Indonesia involve the Directorate-General of Immigration (now within the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections), the customs administration and the maritime security agency, and could not be researched to the standard required here without risking an inaccurate description of a security-adjacent function.
Institutional historyNot researched: Indonesia's institutional history — the 1945 Constitution and its four rounds of amendment, the 1999 decentralisation, the creation of the Constitutional Court in 2003, the Aceh peace agreement, and the 2026 replacement of the Dutch-colonial penal code — cannot be written responsibly from general knowledge and requires scholarly and archival sources not consulted here.
Institutional timelineNot researched: A timeline requires each milestone to carry its own verified source and date. The dated facts established in this pilot — the 1945 Constitution and its 1999–2002 amendments, the 2006 Aceh law, and the 2 January 2026 commencement of the new KUHP and KUHAP — are a start, but a responsible timeline needs primary sources for each milestone, which were not assembled here.

Sources

Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia 1945 (UUD 1945, as amended 1999–2002)
Mahkamah Konstitusi Republik Indonesia (Constitutional Court of Indonesia) · Legislation · 1945 · link verified 2026-07-27
The 1945 Constitution (UUD 1945, as amended in four rounds 1999–2002), confirmed against the Constitutional Court and other official hosts in two independent passes. Supports Pasal 1(1) ("The State of Indonesia is a unitary state in the form of a Republic"); Pasal 18 (the unitary state is divided into provinces, regencies and cities with regional governments); Pasal 24(1) ("The judicial power is an independent power to administer justice"); Pasal 24(2) (judicial power is exercised by a Mahkamah Agung over the general, religious, military and administrative court environments, and by a Mahkamah Konstitusi); Pasal 24B (the Judicial Commission, Komisi Yudisial); and Pasal 24C (the Constitutional Court reviews the constitutionality of statutes at first and final instance). Establishes the unitary state, the national judiciary, and the dual-apex court structure.
Law No. 2 of 2002 on the Indonesian National Police (UU 2/2002), Pasal 8
Pemerintah Republik Indonesia (via the official legal-database hosts) · Legislation · 2002 · link verified 2026-07-27
Law No. 2 of 2002 on the Indonesian National Police, Pasal 8, confirmed verbatim in two independent passes. Supports Pasal 8(1) — "Kepolisian Negara Republik Indonesia berada di bawah Presiden" (the Indonesian National Police is under the President) — and Pasal 8(2) (the Chief of Police, Kapolri, is responsible to the President). Establishes that POLRI is a single national force reporting directly to the President rather than to a ministry.