Relief for Rismon Sianipar as He is Cleared in Jokowi's Diploma Case

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Digital forensic researcher Rismon Sianipar can now breathe a sigh of relief. After five months bearing the status of a suspect in the case accusing the falsification of the academic diploma of Indonesia’s 7th President Joko Widodo, he has been freed from legal entanglement. His suspect status has been dropped following the issuance of a Termination of Investigation Order (SP3) by Polda Metro Jaya. The path to this point was not short, marked by public debates, pressures, and a choice to settle that changed the course of the case. His review highlighting technical aspects of the document, such as font type and visual appearance, quickly went viral and ignited widespread controversy. Amid the heated debates, UGM provided clarification that the use of fonts in academic documents at that time could not be used as an indicator of forgery. However, the issue had already escalated, even expanding to public actions. In April 2025, an official report was filed, followed by a counter-report from Jokowi regarding alleged defamation. The case continued to unfold until in November 2025, the police named eight individuals as suspects, including Rismon. The other seven suspects are Eggi Sudjana, Kurnia Tri Royani, M Rizal Fadillah, Rustam Effendi, Damai Hari Lubis, Roy Suryo, and Tifauziah Tyassuma. They are suspected of being involved in defamation, slander, and violations of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (UU ITE). As time passed, the investigation proceeded at length with various dynamics, including requests for additional witness examinations and efforts to conduct forensic testing on the document.