Ombudsman Chairman Deemed to Have Poor Track Record, Why Was He Selected? DPR Selection Committee Blamed

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – The Anti-Corruption Society (MAKI) regrets that Ombudsman Chairman Hery Susanto has become a corruption suspect in a bribery case and has been detained by the Attorney General’s Office. MAKI criticises the selection committee and Commission II of the DPR for allowing Hery Susanto to pass despite his poor track record.

MAKI demands that the Attorney General’s Office uncover Hery Susanto’s misconduct during his first period at the Ombudsman.

“All this is inseparable from the fault and negligence of the Ombudsman Selection Committee for 2025/2026 and the DPR in allowing Hery Susanto to become Chairman of the Indonesian Ombudsman (ORI) because HS’s track record during his tenure as an ORI commissioner was very poor, as requests for recommendations on cases of genuine maladministration did not receive service due to suspicions of no facilitation money or gratification,” said MAKI Coordinator Boyamin Saiman on Friday (17/4/2026).

Boyamin claims to have information on Hery’s poor performance from ORI commissioners from the 2016-2021 and 2021-2026 periods (he has served two terms). These members had tried to provide input to the Selection Committee (Pansel) and Commission II of the DPR to disqualify Hery. But the effort failed, and Hery was successfully appointed as Chairman of the ORI.

“I myself provided input to the ORI Pansel in October 2025, and the result was failure; my input was ignored,” said Boyamin.

Boyamin states that Hery’s integrity has been easily compromised since his time at the Ombudsman, and this is known internally within the ORI. According to him, it should have been easy for the Pansel and Commission II of the DPR to track Hery’s poor performance during his tenure as ORI Commissioner 2021-2026. “The Pansel and Commission II of the DPR have proven to be negligent and careless in allowing HS to become ORI chairman,” said Boyamin.