After 5-Hour Questioning in Ring Road Case, Aru Regent Avoids Journalists
Regent of Kepulauan Aru, Maluku, Timotius Kaidel underwent a five-hour examination at the Maluku High Prosecutor’s Office in the alleged corruption case involving the Wokam Island ring road worth Rp36.7 billion.
After the questioning, the PKB party cadre chose to avoid journalists by exiting through the side door of the prosecutor’s office. The regent then boarded a pre-ordered online taxi.
As a result, several local and national media journalists waiting at the main entrance of the High Prosecutor’s building were unable to interview the regent after his examination.
“I saw a silver Maxim [online taxi] car enter earlier, with a Maxim sticker on the rear window. I thought it was carrying prosecutor’s staff, but it actually whisked away the regent,” said a security guard at the Maluku High Prosecutor’s Office to journalists in Ambon on Wednesday (1/4).
Separately confirmed, the Head of the Investigation Section at the Maluku High Prosecutor’s Office, Azer Orno, stated that the Aru Regent had indeed completed his five-hour examination. He was questioned as a contractor regarding his knowledge of the Wokam Island ring road project worth Rp36.7 billion.
“He has finished being questioned; it took five hours, from 10:00 WIT to 14:00 WIT. He left the building in the afternoon,” he said.
In addition to Timotius Kaidel, Mazer said two of the regent’s aides were also questioned.
The two subordinates examined were the treasurer with initials JMK and the Head of Sub-section at the Public Works and Spatial Planning Department named Abraham. They were questioned in separate rooms.
The Aru Regent was questioned by the Special Criminal Investigators (Pidsus) of the Maluku High Prosecutor’s Office regarding the 35-kilometre ring road connecting five villages: Tungguwatu Village, Goral Village, LAU-LAU Village, Kobraur Village, and Nafar Village in the Aru Islands Sub-district.
At that time, he was the contractor for PT Purna Dharma Perdana, which participated in the tender for the Wokam Island ring road project worth Rp36.7 billion in 2018 during the administration of Aru Islands Regent Johan Gonga.
After winning the tender, he began work on the 35-kilometre road. However, it is alleged that only about 15 kilometres were completed, while the remaining 20 kilometres were never worked on.
The case began at the Maluku High Prosecutor’s Office after the Aru Anti-Corruption People’s Alliance Institution reported Timotius Kaidel in October 2025.
Secretary of the Aru Anti-Corruption People’s Alliance, Colin, stated that Regent Timotius Kaidel does not support President Prabowo Subianto’s government programme regarding the completion of roads for the prosperity of poor communities, especially those in the outermost islands of Maluku.
His side hopes that the Maluku High Prosecutor’s Office will detain and designate the number one person in the pearl-producing region as a suspect.
“We hope the individual is designated as a suspect and detained; if necessary, detained and designated as a suspect. This is the hope of all Aru residents, especially the people in the five villages that are still far behind,” he said at the Maluku High Prosecutor’s building on Wednesday (1/4).
“The community’s hope is that the case is clarified and the intellectual actors and perpetrators are detained,” he added.