Ethics Council Finds Selection Panel Lapses After Ombudsman Chair Becomes a Suspect

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Ethics Council of the Ombudsman RI has found that the Selection Committee (Pansel) for the 2026–2031 Ombudsman candidates “slipped up” in the process of selecting the suspended Ombudsman chief Hery Susanto, who is now a suspect in a case of alleged corruption in the governance of nickel mining in Southeast Sulawesi. Chair of the Ethics Council, Professor Jimly Asshiddiqie, said the panel was not sufficiently meticulous in selecting Ombudsman candidates. “Yes, they slipped up; perhaps their working method is too formal, following the sequence, the formality,” Jimly said at the ethics hearing on Friday (22 May 2026). “Or asking ChatGPT — that is already in the big data. There will surely be an answer. That means in this case, the panel was somewhat lax,” he added. According to Jimly, the status of Hery Susanto as a suspect makes the case clear enough to be processed ethically. “Because this case is crystal clear. Because he is a suspect already. And that cannot be less than three months. If you want to wait for proof to be final, well, that would take long,” he said. He also emphasised that the alleged ethical violation by Hery Susanto falls into a heavy category. “Did HS’s conduct violate ethics or not? Is the violation a heavy category or not? But, generally, it is clear; he has already been detained and will be more than three months,” he said. “Yes, we hope the Ombudsman can improve its performance so that public trust in this institution is restored,” he added. He also stressed that the ethics standards of this public service oversight body must be kept very high. “The ethics standards at the Ombudsman must be higher than elsewhere; on par with the KPK,” he said. Earlier, Hery Susanto was reportedly involved in receiving around Rp 1.5 billion related to the case of alleged corruption in the governance of nickel mining operations. Hery Susanto has been named a suspect by the Attorney General’s Office (Kejaksaan Agung) in relation to this case.