Fadli Zon on PTUN Rejecting Civil Coalition Lawsuit: As Expected
Culture Minister Fadli Zon stated that the State Administrative Court (PTUN) Jakarta’s ruling rejecting the lawsuit from the Civil Society Coalition Against Impunity concerning his remarks on the mass rapes of May 1998 aligned with his expectations.
“I think the ruling matches what I expected. In my opinion, there is no single piece of evidence supporting the occurrence of mass rapes in 1998. If rapes occurred, they might have, but not by state actors, not systematically,” said Fadli Zon in Beijing on Sunday (26/4) evening, as quoted from Antara.
Previously, PTUN Jakarta on 21 April 2026 declared it could not accept the lawsuit from the Civil Society Coalition Against Impunity related to Fadli Zon’s statements.
The panel of judges granted the defendant’s exception regarding absolute competence, stating that PTUN Jakarta was not authorised to adjudicate the case.
The panel assessed that the object of the dispute, namely Fadli Zon’s statements, did not meet the elements of a state administrative decision because they did not produce concrete, individual, and final legal consequences.
Fadli Zon had previously expressed views on the May 1998 riot events, including in a podcast on 10 June 2025 and an official statement on 16 June 2026.
In those statements, he referenced the Joint Fact-Finding Team (TGPF) report—including allegations of mass rapes in 1998—which he said lacked strong evidence, and cautioned against “embarrassing the nation ourselves”.
“The 1998 rape incidents were not structured; the perpetrators were criminals, thugs, and so on. We do not want to distort history. I have also conducted studies and written a book on this,” said Fadli.
He emphasised that his statements were not related to the rewriting of history books by the Ministry of Culture. According to him, the history writing process is not influenced by statements he has made in public forums.
“That has no connection to the history books. Initially, I mentioned it in a podcast and have explained it clearly in the DPR,” he said.
Fadli also stressed that the government must not distort history, but he maintained that there is no legal evidence indicating the events were structured actions by the state.
“That it did not happen, and there is no legal evidence for it. But if there were rapes, yes, they might have occurred, but not as people imagine when they talk about state actors planning it, for example, like the ‘Nanjing Massacre’ in China, where thousands of women were raped by Japanese soldiers, or the rapes of Bosnians by Serbian troops—that is ‘state actor’, whereas what happened in 1998 was ‘riots’ (riots),” explained Fadli.
Meanwhile, regarding the PTUN Jakarta ruling, the Civil Society Coalition Against Impunity plans to file an appeal against the administrative actions of the government carried out by Fadli Zon, which are alleged to deny the 1998 mass rape events.
“What is certain is that we will pursue the appeal further to the High State Administrative Court,” said Public Lawyer from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Daniel Winarta in a press conference at Komnas Perempuan on Wednesday (22/4), as quoted from the LBH Jakarta Instagram account.
Daniel explained that the lawsuit is inseparable from efforts to affirm PTUN’s authority in adjudicating cases related to governmental administrative actions.
He clarified that Fadli Zon’s official statements through press releases, social media, or official websites constitute part of governmental factual actions.
In the upcoming appeal memorandum, he continued, they will emphasise that those statements fall within the realm of state administrative law.
Thus, the case should be under PTUN’s absolute competence to examine and adjudicate.
“This is a factual action that should be resolved through the state administrative court mechanism. That is the most important thing,” he said.