Legislator Cites Nabilah O'Brien versus Zendhy Kusuma Case as Dangerous Legal Precedent in Indonesia
JAKARTA — Members of the House of Representatives’ Commission III have expressed concern over the legal process in a defamation case involving social media personality and Bibi Kelinci restaurant owner Nabilah O’Brien, warning it could establish a damaging precedent for Indonesian law.
“If the reporting she did is not yet worthy of blame, and then she turns around with defamation, accusing her of committing a wrongdoing, this sets a bad precedent for the development of law in Indonesia,” said Rikwanto during a Commission III meeting at the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Monday, 9 March 2026.
According to him, the case involving Nabilah is a unique matter. The case arose after she was reported by Zendhy Kusuma, who was suspected of theft for allegedly refusing to pay for a substantial food order.
Zendhy filed a defamation report after Nabilah distributed CCTV video footage showing him allegedly failing to pay for his order at Bibi Kelinci.
Rikwanto drew an analogy between Nabilah’s case and security officers using CCTV to apprehend suspected thieves. “If we follow this case’s logic, a thief could say, ‘Well, I haven’t been established by a court as a suspect, the accused, or a defendant found guilty and confirmed by a court judgment. So you can’t broadcast that like that.’ This is the analogy,” explained Rikwanto.
During the same meeting, Rikwanto supported terminating the case against Nabilah to prevent setting a bad precedent in Indonesia’s legal process. “I agree, Your Honour, this should be stopped so that society is not afraid to report crimes in their surroundings. On behalf of Golkar Faction, we fully agree this is resolved well,” he stated.
Both parties agreed to withdraw their respective police reports after signing a peace agreement. Brigadier General Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko, Head of the Public Information Bureau of the Police Public Relations Division, stated that the peace agreement was reached after the parties were brought together and mediation was conducted.
“The parties, including Saudari Z and his wife, Saudari ES, and also representatives from Saudari NA and KDH, all four parties attended and entered into a peace agreement. In this peace agreement that we mentioned earlier, each party has proceeded with the withdrawal of their respective reports,” said Trunoyudo at Police Headquarters on Sunday evening, 8 March 2026.
Beyond withdrawing police reports, both parties also agreed to delete social media content that had previously been mutually provocative.
Trunoyudo expressed hope that the peace accord would bring a sense of justice to all parties involved. “Thus, in the mediation report process and the withdrawal, all parties before us proceeded to delete social media content that was part of this peace agreement,” he said.