PDIP Criticises Police Over Nabilah Case: Why Do Authorities Keep Charging Victims?

A member of Commission III of the Indonesian House of Representatives from the PDI-Perjuangan (PDIP) faction, Safarudin, has criticised the National Police (Polri) regarding a case involving Bibi Kopi Tiam restaurant owner Nabilah O’Brien.

Nabilah was previously designated as a suspect for defamation in connection with a post on her personal Instagram social media account. She was reported by guitarist Zendhy Kusuma and his wife Evi Santi.

Safarudin believes that from the outset, Nabilah could not be prosecuted because her action of uploading CCTV footage to social media was lawful. “Looking at this case, Nabilah cannot be prosecuted. I do not understand why the Criminal Investigation Directorate keeps arbitrarily charging people who are victims. Thankfully, there was an agreement reached last night,” Safarudin said during a parliamentary hearing at the Parliament Complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Monday, 9 March.

Safarudin agreed that the case should be terminated. He reminded Polri to be fair in investigation processes and not to deliberately seek out people’s mistakes.

“What was explained earlier is that Article 36 of the Criminal Code must be observed. Even based on the Information and Electronic Transactions Law, she cannot be prosecuted because it falls under the public interest. Therefore, I very much agree that this case should be terminated and formally dropped with respect to Nabilah’s status as a suspect,” he said.

Safarudin noted that the new Criminal Procedure Code contains sanctions for investigators who make mistakes. He called on police to study the new Code of Criminal Procedure.

“When investigators make errors, sanctions will be imposed, whether administrative, ethical, or criminal. Therefore, the new Code of Criminal Procedure, which is already in effect, must be thoroughly read, properly understood, and properly implemented,” he said.

Earlier, Nabilah O’Brien stated that she was designated as a suspect after discussing the theft case she experienced on social media. She shared her account through her Instagram account @nabobrien.

“I am a theft victim who became a suspect at the Police Criminal Investigation Directorate. I remained silent for five months because I was afraid to speak and voice myself,” Nabilah said in her post.

For context, the case originated when a married couple with initials ZK and ER became emotional because the food they ordered at Nabilah’s restaurant did not arrive. Not only did they insult kitchen staff, but they also took the food without paying.

Nabilah subsequently reported ZK and ER to the police. After investigation, ZK and ER were designated as suspects.

Regarding this, the Head of Public Relations of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police Regional Office, Senior Commissioner Budi Hermanto, stated that there were two cases occurring at Nabilah’s restaurant.

The first case involved an alleged theft crime under Article 363 of the Criminal Code, handled by Mampang Prapatan Police Station, in which Nabilah was the victim reporting ZK and ER. Both reported parties have been designated as suspects and scheduled for questioning on Monday, 9 March 2026, although their legal representative submitted a request for postponement of the examination.

The second case concerned the uploading of CCTV footage to social media, handled by the Cybercrime Investigation Directorate of the Police Criminal Investigation Directorate, in which Nabilah was positioned as the reported party.

Subsequently, the Police Headquarters announced that both parties have mutually withdrawn their reports at the police station.

The Head of Public Relations Division of the Police Headquarters, Brigadier General Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko, stated that both parties attended mediation conducted at Police Headquarters on Sunday, 8 March.

“In this peace agreement that we presented earlier, and in this process each party has withdrawn their reports from each of their respective reporters,” said Trunoyudo on Sunday evening.

Both parties also agreed to mutually delete social media posts related to the issue.

“Therefore, in the mediation process, withdrawal, and before all of us here, they deleted posts on their respective social media accounts, which became part of the agreement in this settlement,” he said.