OC Kaligis: From Soeharto To Prabowo Cases

OC Kaligis and Eddy Wijaya. (IST)

JAKARTA - The names of senior attorneys Otto Cornelis (OC) Kaligis returned to being a byword after being appointed as attorneys for Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka in the 2024 Presidential Election dispute at the Constitutional Court. OC Kaligis along with a number of other well-known lawyers such as Hotman Paris Hutapea, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, and Otto Hasibuan, succeeded in bringing Prabowo-Gibran to be president and vice president-elect, after winning a lawsuit at the Constitutional Court.

In the EdShareOnn podcast which airs on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, OC Kaligis tells how he was appointed as one of the frontlines of Prabowo-Gibran's defense. He admitted that he was chosen because he had been close to Prabowo for a long time. "As soon as I got out of prison, who called me to eat together? Prabowo, at his house in Kertanegara," said OC Kaligis to host Eddy Wijaya.

OC Kaligis has long been nicknamed Human A Million Cases because he has handled many cases from various backgrounds of figures. He is trusted to handle the case of the number one person in Indonesia, since becoming Suharto's attorney after falling from the presidency in the 1998 Reformation. I was asked to come to see Mr. Harto at Cendana (Suharto's residence). His first question, 'Is OC Kaligis willing to be my lawyer?'

The lawyer who was born in Makassar, South Sulawesi, 82 years ago also defended BJ Habibie, since he was still a minister in the New Order era until he became the 3rd president to replace Suharto. "That's why every time my subordinate wants to take a photo with Pak Habibie, I can take it directly to his house," said OC Kaligis.

In chatting with Eddy Wijaya on the EdShareOn podcast, OC Kaligis also revealed his journey of raising a number of lawyers who are now quite famous in Indonesia.

Of course we know the famous names such as Hotman Paris Hutapea, Minister of Law and Human Rights during the SBY administration, namely Amir Syamsuddin, former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Hamdan Zoelva, Professor of the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia Prof. Hikmahanto Juwana, Elza Syarief, and Juniver Girsang. In the world of education, it seems that I also have the talent because everyone who has studied to perform here is a (big lawyer)," he said.

He had told how Hotman Paris Hutapea proposed to be a young lawyer in his office. To OC, the lawyer who is famous for collecting diamonds in his fingers admitted that he wanted to learn to act in the banking world. "One day I invited Hotman to meet a client in Menteng in my car, who at that time was an air conditioner. The first words I heard from Hotman like this, "Bang OC, I was cold, turn off the AC first," said OC Kaligis with a laugh. OC Kaligis said his students had indeed become famous lawyers.

But they still respect him until now. The moment that made OC Kaligis the most touched was when he was released from prison in March 2022. They made me a party at a six-star hotel. I was touched, because it turned out that they were aware too," he said with teary eyes.

Watch more on EdShareOn Eddy Wijaya's Youtube channel! (ADV)