Not Due to Illness: What is the Reason Behind KPK Changing Yaqut's Status to House Arrest?

The detention of former Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas has now been changed to house arrest. The KPK explained that the shift in Yaqut’s detention status was not due to his health condition.

“It is not because of illness,” said KPK spokesperson Budi Prasetyo to reporters on Sunday (22/3/2026).

Budi stated that house arrest for Yaqut was implemented after the KPK received a request from his family. The KPK then granted the request without providing further details on the family’s reasons for submitting it.

“So it was indeed due to a request from the family, and then we processed it,” Budi explained.

The KPK also explained the different treatment Yaqut received compared to other KPK detainees, such as former Papua Governor Lukas Enembe, whose detention was once postponed due to health reasons. Budi only mentioned that each investigation has different case handling strategies.

“Why is it different from LE? Each investigation process certainly has different conditions and case handling strategies, including the detention of someone as a suspect,” Budi clarified.

Yaqut’s disappearance from the KPK detention centre was initially revealed by the wife of former Deputy Minister of Manpower Immanuel Ebenezer (Noel), Silvia Rinita Harefa, after visiting Noel at the KPK detention centre during Eid on Saturday (21/3). Silvia said that her husband and other KPK detainees had not seen Yaqut in detention since Thursday (19/3).

“This one, earlier they didn’t see Gus Yaqut. The info is that he left on Thursday night,” said Silvia.

According to Silvia, her husband and other KPK detainees already knew that Yaqut had suddenly disappeared from the KPK detention centre. They were wondering about Yaqut’s current whereabouts.

“Everyone knows about it. They were just wondering, saying there was an examination, but it’s impossible to have an examination on the eve of Takbiran night,” Silvia explained.

Based on Noel’s testimony to Silvia, Yaqut was also not seen when the KPK detainees performed Eid prayers in the detention centre. The KPK is known to facilitate Eid prayers for Muslim detainees.

“The info is that he was going to be examined later, but for Eid prayers, according to people inside, he wasn’t there,” said Silvia.