Supreme Court deploys oversight team to investigate judge's involvement in Yogyakarta daycare case
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Supreme Court has deployed a team and the Oversight Body to investigate the involvement of a judge in the case of a child daycare foundation in Yogyakarta suspected of child abuse and neglect.
Supreme Court spokesperson Heru Pramono, during an engagement event with the media at the Supreme Court building in Jakarta on Wednesday, stated that the institution has followed up on the information by conducting an examination.
“The Supreme Court is responding by deploying a team with the Oversight Body; hopefully, after this (examination), we can determine whether the judge truly only lent his ID or has any shares,” Heru said.
According to Heru, confirmation from the Tais District Court in Bengkulu revealed that the judge is not part of the Little Aresha Daycare management and holds no shares.
He explained that the active judge had lent his ID to a friend to establish the daycare while studying in Yogyakarta.
“Upon our confirmation, it turned out he only lent his ID to his friend. At that time, he was not yet a judge; he was still studying in Yogyakarta,” he said.
Heru added that the Tais District Court judge lent his ID out of pity for a friend who asked for help.
“A friend asked for help to set up a foundation, and out of pity, he gave it without thinking. If he were already a judge, he probably wouldn’t have lent it. And if he had imagined he would become a judge, he wouldn’t have given it,” Heru said.
Since the ID was lent before he took office, he never checked, controlled, or inquired about the established daycare.
“He also has no shares there and receives no benefits from it. Suddenly, the problem arose,” he said.
According to Heru, the active judge is a young, accomplished individual, and this incident has dragged his name into the matter.
“As far as we understand, this child is actually intelligent and accomplished—a young and accomplished judge. It’s unfortunate that this problem suddenly emerged,” Heru said.
In his clarification, it was stated that his name appeared in the child care organisation’s structure starting in 2021, when two individuals named Nga Liem and Diah sought assistance to formalise an existing child care business into a legal entity.
It was also conveyed that the judge had provided his personal identity document as assistance but requested that his name be removed from the foundation’s structure once it was legally established, as he was undergoing the CPNS civil service examination process.
During the daycare’s operation, the judge never received any remuneration or participated in funding, operations, or any decision-making related to the foundation.
Furthermore, the judge was never informed or involved in the notary deed for the foundation’s establishment and never authorised anyone for legal actions regarding its formation.
In his clarification, the judge acknowledged his negligence in 2021 by lending his personal identity document and expressed apologies to the victims, their families, and the Supreme Court.
Separately, Yogyakarta Police have named 13 suspects in the child abuse and neglect case at Little Aresha Daycare.
Two of the 13 suspects in the child care facility abuse and neglect case are DK (51) as the foundation chair and AP (42) as the school principal.
The other eleven, who are daycare caregivers, are initialled FN (30), NF (26), Lis (34), EN (26), SRM (54), DR (32), HP (47), ZA (30), SRJ (50), DO (31), DM (28).