Mahfud: The Ministry Of Homeland Security's Discourse Has Been Around For A Long Time, The Government Has Never Talked About It

DOK VOI/Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD emphasized that the government had never discussed and discussed the formation of the Ministry of Homeland Security.

According to Mahfud, the discourse has been circulating in the public for more than 20 years, but the Government of President Joko Widodo and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin have never discussed it.

"That's an old public discourse, it's been more than 20 years. In the government itself there has never been a discussion about it. I have no response, go ahead. That's the legislative area," Mahfud said, quoted by Antara, Monday, January 3.

The discourse of forming a Ministry of Homeland Security has re-emerged to the public after the Governor of the Indonesian National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) Lt. Gen. TNI (Ret.) Agus Widjojo submitted the proposal in the Lemhannas 2021 End of Year Statement in Jakarta at the end of 2021.

He conveyed that the Ministry of Homeland Security will later be able to oversee the Indonesian National Police (Polri). The reason is, domestic security can be considered as the task of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri), Agus said.

"Wherever security is included in the domestic portfolio, then who will implement it? In the country, its function is to maintain public order," said Agus.

However, he assessed that the workload of the Ministry of Home Affairs was too much, so it would be more effective if there was a Ministry of Homeland Security.

"To realize security and order, there needs to be law enforcement, that is the Police. It should be placed under one of the ministries, and the Police like the TNI, an operational institution. Operations must be formulated at the ministerial level by political institutions, from there policy formulation is made, defense by the TNI, and security of order by the Police," he said.

If the ministry is formed, the National Police can focus on carrying out their duties to enforce the law, prevent law violations, protect the public, and maintain security and maintain order.

"Not to formulate internal security," said Agus.

He said the establishment of the Ministry of Homeland Security was still only a discourse. Lemhannas has not officially proposed the discourse to President Joko Widodo.