Rismon Sianipar Apologises to Jokowi; PSI Hopes Others Will Also Repent

JAKARTA — Raja Juli Antoni, secretary-general of Partai Solidaritas Indonesia (PSI), has expressed hope that other defendants in the case alleging that the diploma of Indonesia’s seventh President Joko Widodo is counterfeit will also repent, following the apology made by defendant Rismon Sianipar to Jokowi.

“I believe this is part of a good resolution of the matter and I hope the others will soon repent as well,” Raja Juli said at the Presidential Palace Complex in Jakarta on Friday, 13 March 2026.

According to Raja Juli, Rismon’s move to apologise to Jokowi deserves to be appreciated.

“He gracefully apologised to the public and also to Mr Jokowi and his family,” he said.

The statement was made by Rismon together with his legal representative, Jahmada Girsang, after meeting Jokowi in Solo, Central Java, on Thursday, 12 March 2026.

“Yes, of course I apologise,” Rismon said on Thursday. “I apologise to the public as well. Especially to the relevant parties like Mr Jokowi.”

“That is the responsibility of a researcher who must be independent and willing to face criticism and insults with whatever narratives they wish to use. Although their narratives cannot be scientifically substantiated the way I present Jokowi’s White Paper,” he added.

“Since the case file was presented with the analogue diploma from Mr Joko Widodo, I have re-examined what I observed — there is embossing, there is a watermark. So the embossing and watermark became my focus and I researched whether there was a hologram. I found there was not,” Sianipar stated.

“After I examined several other diploma objects from the same year from UGM, I found that at that time, holograms were not actually used as a security feature on diplomas. So what existed was only a watermark and embossing,” he concluded.