Gowa Regent Husniah Walks Out of DPRD Inquiry Panel Hearing

Gowa Regent Sitti Husniah Talenrang walked out of a special committee hearing at the Gowa Regency Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) in South Sulawesi on Tuesday while she was still being questioned. She had initially complied with the summons from the DPRD’s Special Committee on the Right of Inquiry, arriving around 10:15 a.m. WITA. The hearing’s agenda was to hear her clarification regarding allegations of abuse of authority in the revocation of a doctoral scholarship, irregularities in the procurement of free school uniforms, and alleged disgraceful acts related to regional governance.

However, Husniah requested that questions from all committee members not be posed to her directly during the session. She asked for the questions to be collected and stated she would answer them at a later date. ‘With the chair’s permission, I would like to ask all committee members to submit their questions collectively so I can directly settle the answers,’ Husniah said during the hearing.

As a committee member began to offer a view, Husniah interjected, insisting on her right to respond to questions submitted collectively at a future session. ‘I also want to express my rights. I will answer thoroughly and straightforwardly. I ask all committee members to give their questions to me collectively,’ she asserted. She then left the room, stating that the committee members had not respected her rights as the subject of the inquiry. ‘I apologise, I cannot continue with this inquiry because my colleagues in the committee have not given me my rights as the subject of the inquiry. I ask permission to leave this place,’ the PAN politician said before departing.

Husniah claimed her presence that morning was to honour the DPRD’s summons and that she therefore felt entitled to leave without providing clarification. The Chairman of the DPRD Special Committee on the Right of Inquiry, Kasim Sila, expressed his deep disappointment at her actions. ‘Very disappointed, very disappointed. Even if it was her right, this was her right to clarify,’ Kasim told reporters. He described her reason for leaving as trivial and lacking substance, explaining that she merely wanted committee members to ask questions collectively so she could answer them collectively.