JAKARTA — In a time when economic uncertainty, social vulnerability, and public security increasingly intersect, Bahar Buasan has introduced a compelling new perspective on the future of policing in Indonesia: security cannot be sustained by law enforcement alone, but must also be built through economic empowerment and community resilience.
That vision became the intellectual centerpiece of Bahar Buasan’s doctoral dissertation at Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kepolisian (STIK-PTIK), where the Vice Chairman of Committee I of the Dewan Perwakilan Daerah Republik Indonesia officially earned his Doctorate in Police Science.
His dissertation, titled “Collaboration Between the Police and Local Government in Empowering MSMEs for Strengthening Regional Security in the Bangka Belitung Islands Province,” offers more than an academic framework. It is also a reflection of Indonesia’s changing socio-economic landscape — and a deeply personal extension of Bahar Buasan’s lifelong engagement with grassroots communities.
Born in Pangkalpinang, in the Kepulauan Bangka Belitung Islands, on March 25, 1964, Bahar Buasan grew up in a coastal society shaped by mutual cooperation, resilience, and communal solidarity. From an early age, he learned that hope is rarely created by grand rhetoric, but rather through consistent small actions that meaningfully improve people’s lives.
That philosophy later evolved into the principle he now carries publicly: “Every small step can bring great hope to many people.”
Economic Decline and the Rise of New Vulnerabilities
At the heart of Bahar Buasan’s dissertation lies a paradox unfolding in Bangka Belitung between 2021 and 2023.
While the number of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) continued to grow significantly, criminality simultaneously increased. The phenomenon, which he describes as “growth without security,” reveals the fragile relationship between economic transition and social stability.
For decades, Bangka Belitung’s economy depended heavily on tin mining. The sector absorbed large portions of the local workforce and shaped the social structure of the region. However, global commodity fluctuations, tighter regulations on illegal mining, and the prolonged impact of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a sharp contraction in the industry.
As mining opportunities declined, thousands of workers suddenly lost their primary source of income.
Many turned to MSMEs as an emergency economic alternative. Yet according to Bahar’s findings, this rapid growth in small businesses did not necessarily produce sustainable economic resilience. Instead, it often generated new layers of vulnerability.
New entrepreneurs entered business sectors without adequate capital, managerial skills, technological literacy, or institutional protection. As a result, they became increasingly exposed to emerging forms of crime.
His research documented a 37.6 percent increase in criminality within the jurisdiction of the Bangka Belitung Regional Police during the research period, despite annual MSME growth reaching approximately 6.2 percent.
The crimes themselves also evolved.
Traditional street crime was increasingly accompanied by extortion targeting small businesses, gang intimidation in tourism areas, and digital fraud schemes involving fake QRIS payment systems aimed at technologically inexperienced MSME operators.
In Bahar’s analysis, these developments demonstrate that economic growth without institutional protection can unintentionally create new targets for criminal exploitation.
Reimagining the Role of the Police
One of the dissertation’s strongest arguments is its critique of conventional security approaches that rely predominantly on reactive law enforcement.
Bahar argues that crime prevention cannot succeed merely through arrests and punitive action after criminal acts occur. Instead, policing must evolve into a community-based system that addresses the structural roots of insecurity.
Drawing from contemporary policing theories such as Procedural Justice Theory, Community Policing, and Democratic Policing, he proposes a transformation of the police institution itself — from an exclusively coercive force into a facilitator of social empowerment.
His field research uncovered a significant disconnect between government empowerment programs and the communities they were intended to reach.
Although local governments had introduced numerous initiatives — including halal certification programs, intellectual property registration assistance, cooperative development, tourism promotion, and MSME facilitation — approximately 75 percent of MSME actors interviewed were unaware that such programs even existed.
Bahar identifies this as a serious last-mile delivery failure.
According to his findings, the state’s inability to connect policy frameworks with grassroots realities stems not only from bureaucratic inefficiency, but from the absence of institutional actors capable of bridging both worlds effectively.
This is where Bahar sees the strategic role of Bhabinkamtibmas — Indonesia’s community police officers.
Structurally, they are among the state officials closest to citizens’ daily lives. Yet in practice, their role has remained largely administrative and security-oriented, rather than developmental or facilitative.
Bahar’s dissertation therefore calls for a reconstruction of policing itself: from crime fighter to community empowerer.
The BBM Model: Security Through Empowerment
The intellectual culmination of the dissertation is what Bahar calls the Berdaya Berbasis Masyarakat (BBM) Model, or the Community Empowerment-Based Framework.
The model rests upon three interconnected pillars.
The first is Legitimacy-Based Policing, emphasizing procedural fairness, public trust, and respectful engagement between police officers and citizens.
The second is Collaborative-Partnership Policing, positioning the police as co-producers of public safety alongside local governments, communities, businesses, and academic institutions.
The third is Symbolic-Transformative Policing, which seeks to transform the institutional image of the police from a solely enforcement-oriented body into a visible agent of community empowerment.
Within this framework, Bahar introduces the concept of Crime Prevention Through Economic Empowerment (CPTEE).
The idea significantly expands conventional security paradigms. If traditional crime prevention strategies often focus on physical surveillance and environmental control, CPTEE argues that strengthening community economic conditions can itself function as a preventive security mechanism.
Under this approach, law enforcement, local governments, businesses, academics, and communities jointly identify economic vulnerabilities, social risks, and security threats through collaborative mapping and integrated intervention strategies.
Social Capital as a Strategic Asset
Another important dimension of Bahar’s research is its emphasis on social capital within Bangka Belitung’s multicultural society.
The province is home to diverse ethnic communities — including Malays, Chinese Indonesians, Bugis, Flores migrants, and others — whose long-standing coexistence has contributed to social stability despite economic pressures.
Bahar argues that this multicultural harmony constitutes an important strategic asset for preventing broader social conflict.
However, he also notes that existing social capital largely remains bonding social capital — strong internal cohesion within ethnic groups — rather than bridging social capital that connects communities productively across social and economic boundaries.
He therefore proposes that cross-ethnic MSME collaboration, facilitated jointly by local governments and the police, could become a powerful mechanism not only for economic growth, but also for strengthening social cohesion and informal crime prevention.
A Dissertation Rooted in Lived Experience
What ultimately distinguishes Bahar Buasan’s dissertation is that its arguments do not emerge solely from theoretical abstraction.
They are deeply rooted in lived experience.
Before entering national politics, Bahar spent years engaging directly with youth organizations, indigenous communities, environmental initiatives, and grassroots social movements across Bangka Belitung.
His academic journey — studying both Law and Engineering at Universitas Sriwijaya before continuing with graduate degrees in management and science — further shaped his interdisciplinary perspective on public policy, regional development, environmental sustainability, and people-centered governance.
Even after serving multiple terms as a senator, Bahar continued working closely with local communities through initiatives such as Yayasan Bangka Jaya Lestari, Rumah Inspirasi Buasan, and Yayasan Gunung Mangkol Lestari.
In many ways, his dissertation reflects that long continuum of public engagement.
It is not merely a study about policing or MSMEs.
It is a broader argument about how the state should remain meaningfully present in citizens’ everyday lives — especially during periods of economic transition and uncertainty.
For Bahar Buasan, security is not simply the absence of crime.
It is the presence of trust, dignity, opportunity, and collective hope.
And perhaps that is the deeper message behind his lifelong philosophy: that even the smallest steps, when grounded in service and humanity, can indeed carry hope for many others.
(Samsul Muarif)