TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsJudicial integrity on trial in Fadli Zon’s rape denial case
Paintiffs suing Culture Minister Fadli Zon over his denial of the May 1998 mass rape are awaiting a Jakarta State Administrative Court ruling they say could determine public trust in the country’s justice system.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Ita Fatia Nadia (right), advocate for May 1998 rape victims, and plaintiff Kusmiyati speak on April 7, 2026, at a press conference at Amnesty International Indonesia in Jakarta. (Antara/Asprilla Dwi Adha)
P
laintiffs suing Culture Minister Fadli Zon over his denial of the May 1998 mass rape are awaiting a Jakarta State Administrative Court ruling they say could determine public trust in the country’s justice system.
After six months of proceedings, the seven plaintiffs expressed hope that the all-women panel of judges would rule in their favor, declaring that Fadli had committed an unlawful act by publicly denying the violence against Chinese-Indonesian women and ordering him to issue an apology.
Marzuki Darusman, a former attorney general and human right activist, said the case holds “historical significance in restoring the nation’s political morality”, underscoring the court’s role in upholding legal integrity.
“Public trust in Indonesia’s legal system can be restored if the court reaches the right conclusion, but it will be completely eroded if the opposite happens,” he said during a press briefing in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Marzuki added that the mass rape was part of the racially charged May riots that led to the fall of Soeharto’s authoritarian regime, citing findings from a now-defunct government-sanctioned fact-finding team he once led.
The team, established by former president B.J. Habibie shortly after Soeharto’s resignation in 1998, documented 85 victims of sexual violence linked to the riots.
Read also: Scholars back lawsuit against minister’s denial of 1998 mass rape
