OCCRP Allegations To Jokowi, Slander That Is Considered Insulting Indonesia's Sovereignty

JAKARTA Academics and criminal law expert at Trisaksi University, Albert Aries, assessed allegations by the Organizational Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) to the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) as an organizational Crime and Corruption figure in 2024 that is not accompanied by evidence can be qualified as slander and insult to the sovereignty of the Indonesian nation.

"The allegations of corruption without legal basis and not accompanied by sufficient preliminary evidence, or 'Trial by NGO' by OCCRP are clearly not only aimed at Jokowi, but also the Indonesian government. For 10 years the Jokowi government must be full of shortfalls, but after all, there are also many good things inherited by Jokowi," he explained in a written statement, Wednesday, January 1, 2025.

According to him, OCCRP seems to have taken on the constitutional role of the DPR in carrying out its supervisory function against the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia, which has never been proposed by the DPR, let alone until it is proven that it has violated the law based on Article 7 A of the 1945 Constitution.

Albert emphasized that Foreign NGOs such as OCCRP which are part of democracy must continue to respect Indonesia's sovereignty, and to return to the principles of international law Omnis indemnatus pro innoxio legibus habetur, namely that anyone who has never been convicted by a fair trial must be legally innocent.

"The nomination of the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia as an organized crime and corruption figure in 2024 without sufficient preliminary evidence is a slanderous crime that destroys the good name of others, so that the publication of the OCCRP clearly contradicts Article 19 paragraph (3) of the International Convention on Civil & Political Rights (ICCPR), which has been ratified by Indonesia through Law No. 12 of 2005," he said.