TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has supported Baiq Nuril Maqnun to seek justice for the case of the spread of immoral conversations with the principal of Mataram High School SMAN 7, in which she was implicated. Jokowi said he could not intervene in the legal process that was currently underway in the Supreme Court (MA).
"I strongly support Ibu Baiq Nurul to seek justice," said Jokowi at Sidoharjo Market in Lamongan, East Java, as quoted from a press release of the Presidential Secretariat on Monday, November 19.
Jokowi recommended that Nuril should file a case review (PK) on the MA verdict, which found her guilty, and maintain respect to the ruling.
"But, in seeking justice, Ibu Baiq Nuril can still take legal steps. We hope that through PK, the Supreme Court can make the fairest decisions," he said.
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Jokowi said if later the results did not provide justice, Nuril could file a clemency. "That is the stages [of legal proceedings]. If a clemency is delivered to the president, then it will be my part," he noted.
Baiq Nuril, an honorary teacher at SMAN 7 Mataram, was sexually harassed by the school principal identified only as M in 2017. M frequently contacted her, sharing his experience of having sexual intercourses with a woman who was not his wife.
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Nuril recorded the conversation as a way to protect herself and as evidence that she did not have a special relationship with the principal. M then reported Baiq for spreading the record. The panel of judges at the Mataram District Court ruled that Baiq was not guilty in 2017. The judge stated that the person distributing the recording was Nuril’s colleague.
The prosecutor then appealed to the Supreme Court, which found Baiq Nuril guilty and sentenced her to six months behind bars and a fine of Rp500 million subsidiary three months in prison for violating Article 27 (1) of the Law on Information and Electronic Transactions because of spreading the record.
AHMAD FAIZ IBNU SANI