Yesterday's Legal Roundup: Suspect in Bandung Captivity Case Arrested, Nadiem Files Duplik
The West Java Regional Police have arrested Taufik Hidayat, the suspected perpetrator in the captivity and abuse of a 29-year-old woman identified as YTR in Bandung Regency, which allegedly lasted for three years. ‘Yes, it is true (he has been arrested),’ said West Java Police Head of Public Relations, Commissioner Hendra Rochmawan, when contacted in Bandung on Tuesday. Hendra stated Taufik was arrested by West Java Police personnel in the Greater Bandung area, though the exact location and time of the arrest were not detailed.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has stated that the investigation into alleged corruption within the Directorate General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance could potentially be expanded to include parties at the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) and the Ministry of Trade. KPK Spokesperson Budi Prasetyo said this possibility remains open if investigators find sufficient evidence. ‘Regarding the opportunity for its development, we will see which parties have sufficient evidence of receiving bribes related to the importation of these goods,’ Budi told journalists in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The Attorney General’s Office will coordinate with the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) after sealing thousands of electric motorcycles that are the object of corruption in the alleged mismanagement of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme for 2025–2026. The Director of Investigation at the Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes, Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, stressed that his office had not confiscated the electric motorcycles but merely sealed them to monitor their movement. ‘We only sealed them to supervise the movement of the motorcycles because they have been fully paid for by the state,’ he said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Deputy Minister of Human Rights Mugiyanto asserted that the government is working to strengthen the human rights protection system by resolving issues from the upstream stage of policy and regulation to prevent repeated violations. According to Mugiyanto, a human rights approach is insufficient if only applied after problems occur; it must also address the root causes through a strengthened human rights compliance system involving all stakeholders. ‘The state must be present in the various issues faced by society. The Ministry of Human Rights is working to build a system capable of preventing, monitoring, and resolving human rights issues from upstream to downstream. Therefore, human rights compliance must become a shared standard for the central government, regional governments, and the business sector,’ Mugiyanto said in a statement in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the 2019-2024 period, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, admitted he could be negligent, naive, or mistaken, but insisted there was no seed of corruption within him. He asserted he would never be capable of betraying the nation because the Red and White flag is ingrained in his very being. ‘I was raised to continue loving this nation, even if I must be sacrificed,’ Nadiem said while reading his duplik (response to the prosecution’s rebuttal) during a trial at the Corruption Court in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.