It’s not about being brave or afraid, but about not wanting clients to be criminalized.

There is a former lawyer friend of the writer, Roy Suryo, who called us cowards for not having dared to get to the heart of the matter. Frankly, the accusation is not only false, but it also shows that he does not understand our defense options.

We don’t avoid the subject out of fear. We refused from the start to treat differences of opinion and analysis of a diploma as a crime. It’s a problem choice of forum. The appropriate forum is not a criminal court, but rather a scientific forum: the subject matter is exposed, the method is tested, and then the conclusions are refuted by equivalent methods and data.

It doesn’t even have to be complicated. Simply show the original diploma in public. Finished. Let the public see it and let the experts examine it openly. Why are people who doubt it arrested and tried, when the objects in question are never opened to the public?

Even if this matter were to go to court, the court would first have to look at the subject that is causing all this uproar: whether the original diploma is present or not.

This opportunity was actually opened in Citizen Lawsuit case number 211/Pdt.G/2025/PN Skt in the Surakarta District Court. The lawsuit was filed by Top Taufan Hakim and Bangun Sutoto, with Joko Widodo as defendant I. However, until the case was decided, Joko Widodo’s original diploma was never presented as evidence before the trial.

Even though Jokowi repeatedly stated on several occasions that he would show his original diploma in court. On April 16, 2025, he declared that he was ready to come and show it if the judge asked him to do so. On May 23, 2025, he reiterated: “Later I will open it in court. So everything will be clear. » Even before the decision in the CLS case, on April 10, 2026, he still asserted that the court was the right forum to show off all his diplomas, from primary school to baccalaureate.

However, when the forum he repeatedly mentioned was actually available, even though he himself was accused I and the subject matter in question was precisely his diploma, the original diploma was never presented until the case was decided. His lawyer even said that Jokowi “did not wish” to show it.

So what is the correct name for this kind of attitude? Outside of court, I repeatedly promised to show myself; in court, they were not willing to present it. If that’s not hypocrisy, then what is? Don’t keep pretending to be ready to prove while making sure that the things that need to be proven never make it to the judge’s table. Don’t want to or can’t?

The lawsuit was ultimately declared inadmissible due to formal issues related to the use of the Citizen Lawsuit forum, not because the court had reviewed the original diploma and declared it authentic. The main question therefore remains unanswered.

If it turns out that Joko Widodo does not have a real degree, then the one who should be held responsible is certainly not the one who doubted him. Do not reverse the legal logic: those who ask questions are charged, while those who are forced to answer are kept out of the interrogation.

Regarding former lawyer Roy Suryo, in my opinion, his way of working is more like that of an NGO (non-governmental organization) than that of a lawyer who receives a power of attorney from the client. NGOs working as NGOs are healthy and necessary for society. But the defenders are not NGOs. Lawyers are given the authority to fight for the client’s legitimate legal interests, not to pursue their own legal agenda while ignoring the client’s defense options.

If an attorney is not prepared to fight for his client’s legal interests, there is only one appropriate action: resign as an attorney. Don’t stay and then dismiss other advocates just because they have different views than yours.

This is what happened. They don’t want to fight for their clients’ legal choices, but instead of resigning, they fire attorneys who disagree. Until finally Roy Suryo as client and agent fired them.

So don’t talk to us about courage. We filed a lawsuit because we didn’t want our customers to be criminalized and forced to fight in a forum that we thought was wrong from the start. It is a conscious legal choice, not a fear. Lawyers work for the legal interests of the client, not to show their own mettle. Greetings. (***)

Friday July 24, 2026

The author is a member of Doctor Tifa’s defense team.