Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has admitted that he does not remember who called him a villain in a video titled "There is Lord Luhut behind the Economic Relations-Military Operations in Intan Jaya!! There are also State Intelligence Agency Generals!!".
This was conveyed by Pandjaitan when he was testifying as a witness during a court hearing in a case of alleged defamation brought by Pandjaitan against rights activists Haris Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti at the East Java District court on Thursday June 8.
"I don't remember", replied Pandjaitan in response to a question by Azhar and Maulidiyanti's lawyer Muhammad Isnur.
Isnur then asked again who in the video actually referred to him as a villain.
"Yeah, I'll have to remember everything later, I'll try to look at all of it [the video] later", said Pandjaitan.
Pandjaitan then suggested that they re-watch the 26-minute video together in court in order to prove his case.
"Later, lets watch it all together", asserted Pandjaitan.
'My grandchild called me a villain'
Earlier in his testimony, Pandjaitan revealed that his grandchild had referred to him as a villain.
Luhut said that there was actually no material loss in this case. However, he claimed that he did could not accept being considered a villain and a "lord" by Azhar.
"I frankly don't need to count any material losses, but morally, my children and grandchildren, I've been called a villain, I've been called a lord, how would it be if I called you a villain, a thief, you wouldn't accept that either, right", said Pandjaitan.
The video containing the alleged defamation, which was uploaded on Azhar's YouTube channel in August 2021, presented a discussion between Maulidiyanti and Azhar.
Based on their actions, the public prosecutor (JPU) has indicted the pair for violating Article 27 Paragraph (3) in conjunction with Article 45 Paragraph (3) of the Information and Electronic Transaction (ITE) Law, Article 14 Paragraph (2) and Article 15 of Law Number 1/1946 and Article 310 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on defamation. (mab/fra)
[Abridged translation by James Balowski based on two articles published by CNN Indonesia on June 8. The original title of the lead article was "Luhut Lupa Siapa yang Menyebut Dirinya Penjahat di Video Haris Azhar".]