Chairul Huda: It Is Illogical for Pertamina to Be Pressured by One Person Over Merak Fuel Terminal Rental

Criminal law expert Chairul Huda has stated that it would be illogical for PT Pertamina (Persero) to be pressured by one party into deciding to lease a fuel terminal belonging to PT Orbit Terminal Merak (OTM) in Merak.

Huda made this statement following the conclusion of an examination session held by the Faculty of Law at Universitas Wahid Hasyim together with 15 legal experts from various universities in the Kuningan area, Jakarta, on Wednesday, 11 March 2026.

According to Chairul, Pertamina is a large corporation with systems in place for making business decisions, including when entering into collaborations with other parties.

“Look, this is a legal relationship between many institutions. Pertamina is not an individual. Pertamina is a large company with systems in place for agreeing to legal relationships with other parties,” Chairul said.

He explained that Pertamina, as a major energy company, has extensive business networks not only at the national level but also with international partners. One example is collaboration in the purchase of crude oil, which demonstrates the scale of Pertamina’s operations in the global market.

“So imagine it—a large corporation like Pertamina actually conducts legal relationships not just at the national scale. It operates at the international scale as well; for example, buying crude oil from international business players,” he said.

For this reason, he believed it makes no sense if the decision of a corporation as large as Pertamina could be influenced by pressure from one person.

“So really, even if that exists and it does have influence, I think it is illogical. When Pertamina has decided to sign a contract, then the talk of pressure and so on has no meaning, even if it does exist. That is the first point,” Chairul said.

He added that in business practice, pressure on a company can come from various sources, ranging from government to other business partners.

“Secondly, perhaps when Pertamina enters into collaboration with its private partners, pressure exists at all times, right? Pressure from the government, pressure from, for example, parliament. Pressure from other business partners. That’s how it is,” he said.