Commission II Leader Apologises After DPR-Selected Ombudsman RI Chairman Becomes Corruption Suspect
Jakarta - Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Commission II, Zulfikar Arse, has apologised to the public after Hery Susanto, the Chairman of the Ombudsman RI selected by the DPR, became embroiled in an alleged corruption case and was subsequently named a suspect.
Zulfikar stated that Commission II was unaware of the issues now ensnaring the Ombudsman Chairman during the fitness and propriety assessment conducted in January 2026.
“If there was any mistake on our part in Commission II in carrying out our oversight functions, in particular, we apologise to the public, including during the fit and proper test when we were about to select the individual again,” Zulfikar said when met at the DPR Building on Friday (17/4/2026).
Nevertheless, the Golkar politician emphasised that Commission II of the DPR is saddened by the case and hopes this incident serves as a lesson for all state officials.
He also affirmed that Commission II is leaving the legal process entirely to the law enforcement authorities.
“Let us all take this incident as a lesson, especially for state officials, so that such repeated events do not continue to occur,” Zulfikar remarked.
Regarding the mechanism for appointing the next Ombudsman leadership, Zulfikar explained that it falls under the internal authority of the institution in accordance with the law.
This is because Commission II is only authorised to appoint the chairman and deputy chairman during the selection process for Ombudsman RI commissioners through the fitness and propriety assessment mechanism.
“According to the existing law, it is left to the Ombudsman itself. At the beginning, when they are to be selected and to determine the chairman and deputy chairman, it is indeed Commission II, but as I recall, once it is running, there is its own mechanism regulated by law and that is left to the internal Ombudsman,” he said.
It was previously reported that the Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) RI arrested and named Hery as a suspect in a criminal corruption case concerning the governance of nickel mining business in Southeast Sulawesi (Sultra).
Director of Investigations for the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes at the Kejagung, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, stated that Hery was named a suspect for allegedly receiving money amounting to Rp 1.5 billion from an individual with initials LKM, the director of a company with initials PT TSHI.
He explained that the case stemmed from issues with the calculation of Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) faced by PT TSHI with the Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut). In an effort to resolve the matter, the company allegedly sought a way out by involving Hery Susanto.
“To carry out that, the suspect received a sum of money from Mr LKM, who is the director of PT TSHI; approximately what has been handed over from this one person is around Rp 1.5 billion,” Syarief said.
After being named a suspect, Hery was detained for the first 20 days at the Salemba Detention House Branch of the Attorney General’s Office.