As Environment Minister, Jumhur Hidayat Explains His Previous 10-Month Sentence

Jakarta - Environment Minister Jumhur Hidayat has explained the 10-month prison sentence previously imposed on him in a hoax-spreading case from 2021. According to Jumhur, he does not have the status of a convict because the law that led to his sentencing is no longer in effect, leaving his legal status unclear. “I’m not a convict. Here’s what happened: I was tried with a demand of two years, after which the Constitutional Court annulled that law. The law is no longer valid, so I’m left in limbo,” Jumhur said after his inauguration at the Palace in Jakarta on Monday (27/4/2026). “So I was never even a suspect, because the law no longer exists. During the process, the law was invalidated,” he added. It is known that Jumhur was recently inaugurated by President Prabowo Subianto as Environment Minister, replacing Hanif Faisol Nurofiq, who now serves as Deputy Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs. In 2021, Jumhur, as a defendant in an alleged hoax-spreading case, was sentenced to 10 months in prison by the panel of judges at the South Jakarta District Court. At that time, the panel imposed a prison sentence on Jumhur, fully remitted against the period of arrest and detention. “It is ordered that the defendant not be detained,” said the chief judge Hapsoro Widodo at the South Jakarta District Court on 11 November 2021. The panel of judges considered that Jumhur was still undergoing medical treatment following surgery. In addition, mitigating factors for the defendant included his cooperative attitude and straightforward testimony during the trial. Both the defendant and the public prosecutor appealed the verdict. Jumhur became embroiled in the criminal case after posting a tweet criticising the enactment of the Job Creation Bill into law on 7 October 2020. Jumhur’s tweet expressed his opinion that the Job Creation Bill was issued for primitive investors and greedy businessmen. Jumhur’s tweet commented on a Kompas.com news article titled “35 Foreign Investors Express Concerns Over Enactment of Job Creation Law.”