Chairman of the Ombudsman for Nickel Corruption, Commission II of the DPR, apologizes for 'error'

The DPR building in Jakarta. (Dino Januarsa-Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of Commission II of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia, Zulfikar Arse Sadikin, is concerned about the determination of the Chairman of the Indonesian Ombudsman, Hery Susanto, as a suspect in a case of corruption in terms of business governance in nickel mining in Southeast Sulawesi (Sultra) by the Attorney General's Office (Kejagung) RI.

He reminded other state officials and organizers to learn from the incident so that no one else would stumble upon corruption problems.

"We from Commission II are concerned about what happened to the Chairman of the Indonesian Ombudsman. And let's make this event a lesson for all of us, especially state organizers, so that there will not be a continuous recurrence of this incident," said Zulfikar at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Friday, April 17.

He said, Commission II of the DPR has completely handed over the case to the legal process that is running at the Attorney General's Office.

"If it is indeed related to the law, of course we must follow it, and we leave it entirely to the procedures, mechanisms, and legal rules that apply in our country," he said.

Zulfikar also apologized to the public for the House of Representatives Commission II's 'mistake' in supervising the ombudsman. Especially the election of Hery Susanto as the chairman of the Indonesian Ombudsman.

"If there is something wrong with us, Commission II in carrying out its functions, especially its oversight functions, we apologize to the public. Including when we conduct fit and proper tests when the person concerned wants us to choose again, because frankly we don't know exactly what the problem is," he said.

"And when the fit and proper test is carried out, we also fully trust what is produced by Timsel (Selection Team). Of course Timsel also worked very well at that time, transparent, and objective. So when producing 18 names that were brought to the DPR, yes we assume that that is the best. We just choose from the 18 the nine best of the best. And according to us, yes, the nine are what we deserve to choose at that time," continued Zulfikar.