Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai Sued by Ministry Employee at State Administrative Court

Minister of Human Rights (HAM) Natalius Pigai has been sued by a Ministry of Human Rights employee at the State Administrative Court (PTUN) in Jakarta.

Through Ministerial Decision Letter No. MHA-14 KP.04.04 dated 23 January 2026, Pigai transferred Ernie from her position as Secretary of the Directorate General of Human Rights Services and Compliance (an eselon IIA-level official) to the position of Senior Human Rights Analyst.

Ernie, represented by her legal counsel Deby Astuti Fangidae and Mordentika Sagala, contends that the job transfer was made through a non-transparent and non-objective decision-making process.

“This Ministerial Decision has violated administrative procedures and was issued without going through a transparent and objective decision-making mechanism,” stated Ernie’s legal counsel in a written statement on Tuesday (10 March).

There are two reasons which, according to them, do not comply with legal provisions in the Ministerial Decision.

The first reason concerns Pigai’s claim that Ernie failed to manage budget absorption properly. According to her counsel, this rationale is incorrect because budget absorption at the Secretariat of the Directorate General of Human Rights Services and Compliance reached 99.56 per cent.

This absorption figure even outperformed the overall figure for the Directorate General of Human Rights Services and Compliance, which was only 92.88 per cent.

In the Employee Performance Assessment document, Ernie received a “good” performance rating.

Furthermore, the decision-making process did not take into account Ernie’s performance over 31 years at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights and one year at the Ministry of Human Rights.

The second reason concerns allegations that the performance evaluation procedure in the decision-making process lacked transparency and that no administrative examination or assessment was conducted in accordance with legal provisions.

They also highlighted concerns about the inauguration announcement being conveyed via WhatsApp less than 24 hours in advance.

Previously, Ernie had filed three complaints regarding her job transfer. However, these complaints were ignored by Pigai as Minister of Human Rights.

This prompted Ernie to believe that her transfer process lacked transparency and indicated an attempt to cover up legal facts.

According to her legal counsel, Ernie also views her job transfer as a disguised demotion that has damaged her career.

“Regarding the arbitrary actions taken by the Minister of Human Rights, we have filed a lawsuit at the State Administrative Court and hope that the court’s decision will declare the said Decision Letter legally defective,” her counsel added.

In a separate written statement, Ernie said the next hearing would take place the following week.

“The third hearing is on 16 March. It remains closed,” Ernie told CNNIndonesia.com.

CNNIndonesia.com also contacted Natalius Pigai through written message, but had not received a response by the time of publication.