Roy Suryo Charged in Alleged Forgery Case of President Jokowi's Diploma

Roy Suryo, former Minister of Culture and Education, has been charged with defamation and violations related to electronic information in a case accusing President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) of having a fake diploma. In his indictment, the Public Prosecutor (JPU) stated that Roy Suryo attacked Jokowi's honor or reputation by claiming his university diploma from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) was fake. Suryo is also accused of intentionally spreading unprovable accusations widely through information technology. According to the indictment, the case began on March 26, 2025, when a witness, Syarif Muhammad Fitriansyah, presented three social media posts deemed to attack Jokowi's honor over the fake diploma allegations. Jokowi then asked Syarif to contact his legal team to gather these posts. Subsequently, Jokowi's legal counsel held a press conference to respond. On April 15, 2025, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) also held a press conference, fundamentally stating that Jokowi was a registered student and had graduated. However, on April 22, 2025, Syarif again showed Jokowi 28 posts alleging a fake diploma. Seven of these posts contained actions by Roy Suryo, essentially accusing Jokowi's undergraduate diploma of being fake. One such post was on the YouTube channel SentanaTV, titled 'Hasik Forensic Test Reveals Criminal Elements in Jokowi's Diploma Case | Sentana Exclusive Roy Suryo' dated April 8, 2025. The JPU read Suryo's statement: "Forget being able to read it, it's like, sorry, it's like bird droppings falling, broken, scattered. So messy. This is scientific, you know, one hundred percent scientific. If it's messy, it means it's's been retouched. That's why many people suspect, why does the photo look like it's on top of the stamp?" The prosecutor stated that as a result of Suryo's actions, Jokowi suffered immaterial losses, including damage to his personal reputation, feeling deeply insulted and degraded. Furthermore, the prosecutor also charged Roy Suryo with intentionally and unlawfully manipulating, creating, altering, deleting, or destroying Electronic Information and/or Electronic Documents. The prosecutor stated this was done with the aim of making the Electronic Information and/or Electronic Documents appear as if they were authentic data. The prosecutor said Suryo conducted this analysis using the Error Level Analysis (ELA) method on a diploma not sourced from the legitimate owner, Jokowi. "There was no effort from the defendant to verify, confirm, or request permission from witness Ir H Joko Widodo as the legitimate owner of the document, so the Electronic Information and/or Electronic Documents used as the basis for the defendant's analysis were done without authorization," the prosecutor said. For his actions, Roy was charged under Article 433 paragraph (1) in conjunction with Article 441 paragraph (1) of Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code. In a subsidiary charge, Roy was charged under Article 35 in conjunction with Article 51 paragraph (1) of Law Number 11 of 2008 concerning Electronic Information and Transactions, in conjunction with Republic of Indonesia Law Number 1 of 2026 concerning Criminal Adjustments. Additionally, the Prosecutor charged Roy under Article 32 in conjunction with Article 48 paragraph (1) of Law Number 11 of 2008 concerning Electronic Information and Transactions, in conjunction with Republic of Indonesia Law Number 1 of 2026 concerning Criminal Adjustments. "The defendant's actions in altering and reducing electronic information and/or electronic documents by cropping the S-1 diploma photo of witness Ir H Joko Widodo, which was uploaded by witness Dian Sandi Utama via the 'X' account, were carried out without permission from witness Ir H Joko Widodo as the legitimate owner of the diploma," he said. Information source: CNN Indonesia