Rio Haryanto Responds to Personal Document Leak: Deeply Regrettable

Former Formula 1 driver Rio Haryanto has expressed deep regret over the leak of his personal documents after they were uploaded to social media by a sub-district office employee in Solo, Central Java.

Rio said he feared his leaked data could be misused.

“I’m worried there could be parties who misuse it. So it is deeply regrettable that this has happened,” Rio said on Saturday (21 February).

Rio admitted he was shocked by the incident. Nevertheless, he has forgiven the sub-district employee, identified only by the initial A.

“The person concerned has come to the office and apologised. So we have accepted the apology, especially as this is during the fasting month of Ramadan — we should forgive one another,” he said.

He urged officials at the Solo municipal government to be more careful in handling personal documents in future, expressing hope that his case could serve as a lesson.

“Yes, I certainly hope that in the future they can be more careful, and hopefully this can be a lesson learned,” he said.

The Solo municipal government summoned the employee, who underwent a disciplinary hearing on Friday (20 February).

“We held a hearing and a decision has been reached by a team comprising ourselves from BKPSDM [the Regional Civil Service Agency], the Inspectorate, the Assistant Secretary, and the Legal Division as the case follow-up team. A decision was reached today,” said Solo BKPSDM head Beni Supartono at Solo City Hall on Friday.

Beni declined to elaborate on the specific sanction to be imposed on A, stating that the matter would be referred to Mayor Respati Ardi for a final decision.

“In principle, we have carried out the follow-up. The person concerned will receive a punishment commensurate with the violations committed, and in principle it only remains for the Mayor’s decision to be formalised,” he said.

According to Beni, the employee’s actions had damaged the reputation of the Solo municipal government with regard to public service delivery.

“The issue at stake is the harm caused to the municipal government in relation to poor service, which has tarnished the name of the municipal government’s public services,” he said.