JAKARTA - The continuation of the trial regarding the preparation of the Survey Investigation Design (SID) was carried out again on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, with the agenda of examining two witnesses from the Defendant, namely Joko Meiranto from the Port Directorate and Edo Prima Wardana from the Navigation Directorate as experts.
In addition to the examination of witnesses and experts, the defendant also submitted additional evidence T-17 to T-23.
PT KSS's legal representative, Fahmi Hanafiah, said that in the trial, the fact witness Joko Meiranto, who served as the Head of the KSS SID Evaluation Team, explained that he had only been appointed as the Head of the Evaluation Team in May 2025.
In his statement, the witness explained that the task of the team he led was limited to the process of evaluating the SID documents and refining the necessary data.
"However, there are a number of important facts that were revealed in the trial. Witnesses explained that all the SID improvements requested by KSS and other documents required and must be met by the initiators in principle have been met, except for recommendations related to the aspect of maritime safety from KSOP," said Fahmi through a press release received by VOI, Wednesday, July 1.
According to Fahmi, despite having delivered the statement, the witness seemed to try to release responsibility by stating that he did not remember the exposure meeting held on August 27, 2025.
In fact, he continued, in the meeting it had been stated that all the SID improvements requested to KSS and other documents required in principle had been met, except for recommendations related to the aspect of shipping safety from KSOP.
In addition, the witness also stated that he did not know the technical reason why the survey conducted by KSS only covered four zones and was not carried out on the entire shipping channel.
According to Fahmi, this statement shows the weakness of coordination between old and new officials. This is because the witness who had just served as the Head of the Evaluation Team in May 2025 admitted that he did not receive any explanation or information from the previous official regarding the technical basis for assigning the KSS to conduct the SID survey in only four zones as stated in the Minutes of the Meeting.
The witness also stated that he did not know that during the process of preparing the SID, KSS obtained direct supervision from the Ministry of Transportation Team which was formed based on a Decree (SK).
"This fact is important because it shows that the preparation of the SID by the KSS was not carried out independently, but was in the process of direct coaching, evaluation, and supervision by the official team of the Ministry of Transportation. Thus, logically, the preparation of the SID could not have been carried out without following the directions, instructions, and evaluations of the Ministry of Transportation team that was officially assigned to accompany and supervise the process," said Fahmi.
Still, said Fahmi, the expert witness of the Directorate of Navigation of Edo Prima Wardana provided information regarding the technical concept of the navigation flow, survey methods, and standards for preparing navigation flows in accordance with legal regulations.
Experts explained that the determination of the course of navigation is the authority of the Minister of Transportation and must be based on primary data and secondary data obtained through surveys in accordance with applicable technical standards.
"Experts also explained that the survey of the shipping channel is in principle carried out thoroughly to obtain a complete picture of the condition of the channel as the basis for the preparation of a safe shipping channel design for ship traffic," said Fahmi.
According to Fahmi, the testimony of witnesses and experts presented by the Defendant actually strengthened the arguments submitted by PT KSS.
"We assess that so far, both expert witnesses and fact witnesses presented by the defendant (the Directorate General of Hubla) have provided information that has actually harmed their own position (blunder)," he said.
He explained, the witness of the fact that the defendant initially claimed there was no meeting after the second exposure process.
However, the KSS legal team then showed evidence of a photo of the last meeting regarding the finalization of the PT KSS SID on the Mahakam River.
"After being confronted with photographic evidence, the fact witness finally contradicted his statement with the excuse of forgetting," he said.
In addition, the KSS legal team also assessed that the defendant was actually in the wrong position and seemed "want to refuse but hesitate", so that they began to admit their mistakes gradually in the trial.
Not only that, other strange things also happened when the expert witnesses who were presented by the defendant did not bring official letters of appointment as expert witnesses in the trial. According to the KSS legal team, this is an administrative negligence.
Meanwhile, the defendant's lawyer, Harisman Hutapea, said that his party respected all legal processes that were underway and left the assessment of the case entirely to the panel of judges based on the facts revealed in the trial.
"We can't assume, we leave it to the ongoing legal process. Let the judge judge the facts of the trial," he said.
As is known, PT KSS sued the Directorate General of Maritime Affairs (Ditjen Hubla) of the Ministry of Transportation to the State Administrative Court (PTUN) Jakarta regarding the issuance of the Decree of the Director General of Maritime Affairs Number A.1004/AL.308/DJPL dated September 26, 2025. The case was registered with Number 79/G/2026/PTUN.JKT.
The lawsuit was filed because the company assessed that the decision had an impact on the continuation of the shipping flow project on the Mahakam River.
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