Five Central Java Regents Caught in OTT Had Prior Maladministration Reports

The Ombudsman of Central Java has stated that it had previously received reports of public service maladministration from several regencies and cities, including the five areas whose regents were later caught in Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) sting operations. “All five of the affected regents, I’m sorry to say, caught in OTT, are regents for whom there were also reports at the Ombudsman,” Siti Farida, Head of the Central Java Ombudsman Representative Office, said during an interview on Wednesday (29/7/2026). The five regents are those from Pati, Pekalongan, Cilacap, Sukoharjo, and most recently, Pemalang. “All were proven to have committed maladministration,” she added. She cited the example of Pemalang Regent Anom Widyantoro, who was recently apprehended in a KPK sting operation. Farida stated that earlier this year, the Central Java Ombudsman had issued a warning to Anom regarding maladministration practices within his administration. This concerned Anom’s decision to appoint his wife, Noor Faizah Maenofie, as a member of the Supervisory Board of the Dr. M. Ashari Regional General Hospital in Pemalang. “We specifically conveyed the potential conflict of interest regarding the appointment of the hospital’s supervisory board, who is the Regent’s wife. We firmly stated that this posed a potential conflict of interest,” Siti said. She added that a conflict of interest constitutes a form of maladministration in the delivery of public services. “Maladministration is the upstream source of corruption,” she concluded.