Deputy Chair of DPR Commission II Apologises If There Were Errors in Ombudsman's Fitness Test
Deputy Chair of DPR Commission II RI, Zulfikar Arse Sadikin, has responded to Ombudsman RI Chairman Hery Susanto’s designation by the Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) RI as a suspect in a nickel mining governance case spanning 2013-2025. Arse apologised if there were any mistakes in the implementation of the fitness and propriety test (fit and proper test) conducted by DPR Commission II RI.
“We from Commission II are saddened by what has happened to the Chairman of the Republic of Indonesia Ombudsman. And let us take this incident as a lesson for all of us, especially state officials, so that such recurring events do not continue to happen,” said Arse at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, on Friday (17/4/2026).
Arse handed over the case involving the Ombudsman RI Chairman to the authorities. He stated that the procedures following the suspect designation by Kejagung must be followed in accordance with applicable rules.
“Secondly, we fully hand it over to the legal process. If it indeed concerns the law, we must follow it and hand it over completely to the legal procedures, mechanisms, and rules that apply in our country,” he said.
He then touched on the fit and proper test process conducted by DPR Commission II for the Ombudsman RI for the 2026-2031 period. This Golkar legislator said that DPR Commission II was unaware of Hery Susanto’s nickel issues.
“Thirdly, if there is indeed anything wrong from us in Commission II in carrying out our oversight functions in particular, we apologise to the public, including when we conducted the fit and proper test at the time the individual was to be reselected,” said Arse.
“Because frankly, we did not know exactly about that issue, and when the fit and proper test was conducted, we also fully trusted what was produced by the selection team,” he continued.
He mentioned that the selection team (Timsel) worked transparently and objectively at that time. Arse assessed that the 18 names submitted to the DPR were the best choices from the Ombudsman.
The DPR RI then selected 9 among them as members and leaders there. According to him, the list of names approved by DPR RI at that time was the best choice from the proposals given.
“Of course, the selection team also worked very well at that time, transparently and objectively, so when producing the 18 names brought to the DPR, we assumed that those were the best,” said Arse.
“We just had to select from those 18 the 9 best of the best, and in our view, those 8-9 were indeed worthy and appropriate for us to choose at that time,” he added.
He then spoke about the future fate of the Ombudsman Chairman following Hery Susanto’s designation as a suspect. Arse assessed that there is no need to rush and it should be fully handed over to the Ombudsman in accordance with the applicable law.
“Well, we’ll see later, we don’t need to rush it. According to the existing law, it is handed over to the Ombudsman itself. At the beginning when they were to be selected and to determine the chairman and deputy chairman, it was Commission II, but as I recall, once it is running, there is its own mechanism regulated by law, and that is handed over to the internal Ombudsman,” he said.
It is known that Ombudsman RI Chairman Hery Susanto has been detained by the Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung). Hery was designated as a suspect in an alleged bribery case related to nickel mining.
Hery had only served as Chairman of Ombudsman RI for the 2026-2031 period for 6 days. There are nine people who became members of the Ombudsman for the 2026-2031 period, one of whom is Hery, who also serves as chairman.