Journalists' Union Demands Apology from Hotman Paris for 'Insulting' Remarks

The Indonesian Legal Journalists Association (Iwakum) has condemned remarks by advocate Hotman Paris which were deemed to demean the dignity and profession of journalists. Iwakum is demanding that Hotman Paris issue a public apology.

The statement was made by Iwakum Chairman Irfan Kamil in response to Hotman Paris’s press conference after accompanying his client, former Attorney General’s Office Director of Investigation Febrie Adriansyah, who was questioned as a corruption suspect on Friday, 17 July.

During that press conference, Hotman Paris among other things uttered the words “do you even have a brain?” to a journalist carrying out their journalistic duties at the Attorney General’s Office.

“We strongly condemn this and demand that Hotman Paris apologise for remarks that demean journalists and point towards silencing press freedom,” Kamil said in a written statement on Sunday (19 July).

Kamil highlighted Hotman Paris’s remarks attacking the intellectual capacity of journalists. Beyond being arrogant, he said, the remarks demean the dignity of journalists and are unbecoming of a senior advocate.

“The remark ‘do you even have a brain?’ is not criticism, it is an insult to journalists,” Kamil said.

Kamil said journalists have the right to ask questions in order to obtain information.

On the other hand, he said, a source has the right to refuse to answer, clarify, or correct the substance of a question. However, that right cannot be used as justification to attack a journalist’s intellectual capacity.

“A source may decline to answer. A source may also dispute a journalist’s question. But no one has the right to respond to a journalistic question with insults and personal attacks,” he said.

Kamil stressed that journalists, like advocates, are a profession working to ensure law enforcement is accountable, transparent, and fair. In his view, Hotman’s behaviour cannot be generalised as representative of the advocacy profession as a whole.

“Iwakum knows many advocates who are critical, firm, and possess excellent quality of argument, yet still uphold ethics and respect journalistic work. Firmness has never required anyone to insult another profession,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iwakum Secretary General Ponco Sulaksono said advocates are an honourable profession that should prioritise argumentation, ethics, and respect for other professions.

“A senior advocate should set an example in communicating in the public sphere, not display arrogance before journalists,” Ponco said.

Ponco also touched on Hotman’s remarks that dragged in the name of President Prabowo Subianto during the press conference. He stressed that being close to power does not mean one may act arbitrarily or demean a profession.

“As someone close to and claiming to be the President’s legal counsel, Hotman Paris should safeguard the President’s dignity, not instead demean the people,” he said.

Ponco emphasised that journalists’ work is protected by Law Number 40/1999 on the Press. Article 4 paragraph (3) of the Press Law states: “To guarantee press freedom, the national press has the right to seek, obtain, and disseminate ideas and information.”

Meanwhile, Article 6 sets out the role of the press, namely fulfilling the public’s right to know, upholding the basic values of democracy, promoting the realisation of the rule of law and human rights, respecting diversity, developing public opinion based on precise, accurate, and correct information, carrying out supervision, criticism, correction, and advice on matters of public interest, and fighting for justice and truth.

Ponco reminded that legal protection for journalists is regulated in Article 8 of the Press Law.

In response to the incident, Iwakum urged Hotman to issue an open apology to the journalist concerned and to the Indonesian press community. Iwakum also called on the advocacy organisation to which Hotman belongs to examine suspected ethics code violations relating to his behaviour.

“If left unchecked, such actions can become a bad precedent and encourage officials, authorities, advocates, or other interested parties to act arbitrarily when facing critical questions from journalists,” Ponco said.

During the press conference, Hotman Paris did not make demeaning remarks towards journalists only once. Several instances occurred when Hotman Paris was asked about a possible hidden agenda behind his client being named a suspect.

At the time, Hotman told the journalist to ask their grandfather. He even told the journalist to stop speaking.

“Ask your grandfather, why ask me. Ask your grandfather, yes. I’ve shown the evidence, I don’t know what the agenda is. That’s enough from you, I don’t know the agenda. Don’t ask me that. Enough, shut up. I don’t know, how could I interpret someone’s intentions — I’ve given the answer, you should know it,” he said.

Not only that, Hotman Paris even called journalists cowards for not questioning the National Police when asked about alleged mishandling of the case involving Febrie Adriansyah.

“So tonight you should all go straight to National Police Headquarters and ask, if you’re not cowards,” he said.