Prosecutor seeking death penalty for seaman in 2-tonne methamphetamine case apologises to Parliament

Jakarta — Prosecutor Muhammad Arfian, the Public Prosecutor (JPU) who submitted a death penalty recommendation against Sea Dragon seaman Fandi Ramadhan at the Batam District Court in Riau Islands, has formally apologised before Commission III of the Indonesian Parliament (DPR RI).

He acknowledged committing errors in handling the case and appeared alongside the Head of the Batam District Prosecutor’s Office and other prosecutors to explain the legal reasoning that led to Ramadhan’s charges.

“I, as Public Prosecutor Muhammad Arfian, sincerely and deeply apologise for the errors we made during the trial,” Arfian stated at Parliament’s complex in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He revealed that he had already received disciplinary sanctions from the Deputy Attorney General for Supervision (Jamwas) for his mistakes.

According to Arfian, the error would serve as an evaluation for his future conduct. “We are grateful to the leadership of Commission III for their corrections and attention to us. This will serve as material for our review,” he said.

Commission III Chair Habiburokhman noted that the application of law against several suspects in the case has raised public questions. According to him, the various suspects played different roles of differing severity.

He stated that the current state legal policy is to apply the death penalty with extreme selectivity—reserved only for drug lords or those bearing the greatest responsibility. “The recommendation for Fandi, who is at a lower tier, is death, yet the public questions how the law is being applied in this case. The degree of culpability differs greatly, yet the recommendations are the same?” Habiburokhman asked.

Nevertheless, he accepted Arfian’s apology and expressed hope that the young prosecutor could learn from his error to exercise better judgement in future. “We hope this young man can learn from this, be more prudent going forward, and advance in his career,” he said.

Earlier, on Thursday (26/3), Habiburokhman had requested the Deputy Attorney General for Supervision to reprimand and investigate the Public Prosecutors at the Batam District Prosecutor’s Office to exercise greater caution in making public statements, after allegations that one prosecutor claimed Parliament had intervened in the case.