Polwan Officially Serves For The Nation And The State In History Today, July 25, 1951

. President Soekarno together with General RS Soekanto (white sheet) and Commissioner Umar Said visited the Police Week Exhibition at the Jakarta General Meeting Building in 1951. (ANRI)

JAKARTA History today, 72 years ago, July 25, 1951, the Women's Police (Polwan) officially served the Indonesian nation and state. There is the first Indonesian National Police Chief, Raden Said Soekanto Tjokrodiatmodjo behind it. Gender equality is the main reason for the presence of Polwan.

Previously, General Soekanto was one of the figures who understood deeply related to police work. He built the Djawatan of the National Police (now: Polri) from scratch. His experience as a police officer during the Dutch colonial era, then Japan became a provision.

The way of life brought Soekanto to a career as a police officer. Indonesian independence fighters chose to attend the Assistant Police Commissioner School in Sukabumi in 1930. This choice was also supported by his fellow freedom fighters Sartono and Iwa Kusumasumantri.

Education is considered the way Soekanto struggles. He also managed to get his education well. Soekarno also got the rank of Commissioner van Politie 3 e Class (Class III Police Commissioner). This career made Soekanto famous as a police officer who fully supports the natives.

Soekanto then felt various kinds of duties as a police officer. From detective to intelligence. His career continued during the Japanese colonial period. The owner of the power asked Soekanto to become a police school instructor in Sukabumi.

The position made him freely spread awareness of independence to his students. Hoegeng Imam Santoso (later known as the Fifth Indonesian National Police Chief), one of them. This leadership made Soekanto's struggle recognized by fellow fighters.

When Indonesia was independent, especially. Soekanto was suddenly proposed as the first Indonesian National Police Chief by his colleagues. He was asked to build the Indonesian Police.

Furthermore, Sartono and Iwa Kusamasumatri brought Soekanto to the first cabinet meeting under the leadership of President Soekarno which was held on September 29, 1945. They knew that the government needed a police chief. Must not sit in government, both of them were Bung Karno's advisers at the beginning of independence. Sartono was a defender of Soekarno when he was tried by the Dutch in Bandung in 1930.

"On that same day, September 29, 1945, President Soekarno welcomed Soekanto's arrival and then appointed him as Head of the National Police (now: Chief of Police) with the mandate: Form of National Police. Soekanto was surprised, and was without preparation to be appointed as Chief of Police without official ceremonies," said Awaloedin Djamin and G. Ambar Wulan in the book of Police General RS Soekanto Tjokrodiatmodjo (2016).

The matter of building the Indonesian Police is not easy. Soekanto had to rack his brain. Because, everything was limited in the early stages of independence. Soekanto did not give up. He has big capital to build the police, namely experience and patience.

This experience is actually useful, especially since he has gone to study directly related to the police in the United States. He used the regulation to build the Indonesian police from scratch. Mainly, launching a police school and allowing women to register as policewomen.

The decision was perpetuated because Soekanto upholds gender equality. He did not want the Indonesian Police to only be inhabited by men. For him, Polwan has the same potential and can work in every part of the police.

He also began to inaugurate the service of policewomen to the Indonesian people for the first time on July 25, 1951. Instead of just perpetuating the duties of general police officers, policewomen were given special tasks. They were asked to prevent and eradicate the crimes and violations committed by women and children.

RS Soekanto is a person who upholds gender equality as seen from his attitude towards the six female police officers. Based on the Chief of Police's Order No. 18/V51, dated July 25, 1951, the contents of which place the female inspectors administratively in DKN.

In carrying out their duties, five of them were assigned to the Greater Jakarta City Police. The tasks given to them are the same as the tasks of the general police according to what they studied at the Sukabumi State Police Education School (SPN). Some of them are placed in the State Safety Supervisory (PKN), Traffic and other public police tasks," explained Achmad Turan and his friends in the book of Police General RS Soekanto: the first Head of the Indonesian National Police of the Republic of Indonesia 1945-1959 (2000).