The Ombudsman Selection Panel Was Caught Off Guard, Too Trusting of Ordal’s Recommendations

Jakarta — The process to recruit members of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia (ORI) has come under scrutiny after its interim chairman Hery Susanto (HS) was named a suspect in a case of alleged corruption involving the governance of nickel mining in Southeast Sulawesi. The Ombudsman RI Ethics Council says the Selection Panel (Pansel) for the ORI member candidates for the 2026–2031 term has been ‘caught off guard’ for allowing Hery to pass. According to the Chair of the Ethics Council, Jimly Asshiddiqie, the panel was insufficiently meticulous in the selection process. ‘Yes, caught off guard, perhaps a bit too formal in its working, following the sequence, the formality,’ Jimly said at the ethics hearing on Friday (22/5/2026). Jimly said the panel had been negligent in carrying out its duties. ‘Or perhaps asking ChatGPT—has it already been fed into the big data? There must be an answer. That means in this case, the panel has been rather negligent,’ he said. He proposed that the ethics process could be conducted directly against Hery Susanto since he already holds a suspect status. ‘Because this case is clear as daylight. He is a suspect already. And that should not take less than three months. If you wait for the final verdict, that would take a long time,’ he said. For Jimly, the alleged ethics violation by Hery Susanto falls into a heavy category. ‘Does HS’s conduct violate the rules or not? Is the violation in the heavy category or not? Right? But in general, it’s clear; he has been detained and will likely be more than three months,’ he said. The Ombudsman RI Ethics Council has also issued a summons to examine Hery Susanto on Monday (25/5/2026). However, to date there has been no certainty whether he will attend in person. Jimly said the Ethics Council still allows that Hery could be represented by his legal counsel if he does not attend in person.