INDONESIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Lia Alizia, Jonathan Andreas Sitorus and El Yefta Akwila, Alizia & Partners Law Office
1.3 Communication Channels There is no specific requirement for employers to pro - vide a certain type of channel for employees to report violations. In the absence of such a regulatory obliga - tion, employers are not mandated to establish either anonymous or non-anonymous reporting systems. Nevertheless, in practice, many companies adopt whistle-blowing systems, which essentially serve as anonymous reporting mechanisms. These systems take various forms in Indonesia, such as those avail - able on a company’s website, where the types of reports accepted depend on the nature of the busi - ness activities. For example, Bank Indonesia operates a whistle-blowing system for reports of corruption, abuse of authority and ethical violations, which does not require disclosure of the reporter’s identity and thereby ensures anonymity. In addition, some com - panies employ both internal and external portals inte - grated with mobile applications. Unilever, for instance, provides a whistle-blowing system through its mobile application known as the “Speak Up Channel”, which functions as a dedicated reporting platform. In practice, the reporting channel does not necessarily have to be anonymous. Whether or not the channel is anonymous depends on the company regulations or collective labour agreement. 1.4 Responsibility There are no specific rules regarding who should be responsible for carrying out an HR internal investiga - tion. In practice, HR internal investigations are usually carried out by the HR team or the internal audit team (the “internal investigators”). The internal investigators act as the main executors of the investigation, and as the follow-up body for reports received from employ - ees. They will usually report to a general counsel or board of directors; this will depend on the organisa - tional structure of the company. The internal HR investigation should be done in an independent and impartial manner, where external legal advisers may be invited to participate therein. External counsel is usually brought in if the situation is deemed high risk because it is complicated and third parties, including government officials, might influ - ence the company’s reputation. This means reviewing
the matter or possible violation by gathering evidence, conducting interviews, working with the internal inves - tigative group, and drafting and then presenting a legal opinion with recommended actions. 1.5 Obligation to Carry Out an HR Internal Investigation There are no specific regulations in the Indonesian Manpower Law or any other prevailing regulations that explicitly set out the circumstances under which an HR internal investigation must be carried out. How - ever, based on practice, several situations may require such investigations, as previously explained in 1.1 Cir- cumstances and 1.2 Bases . The company’s policies, regulations or collective labour agreements must outline the requirements and procedures for conducting an internal HR investiga - tion. 1.6 Prohibition on Carrying Out an HR Internal Investigation There are no specific regulations in Indonesian Man - power Law or any other prevailing regulations that explicitly set out the circumstances in which an HR internal investigation may not be carried out (tempo - rarily or at all). However, it is believed that there are certain measures that may not be carried out during an HR internal investigation. As previously explained, an HR internal investigation is not clearly provided in the prevailing regulations. Generally speaking, crimi - nal proceedings in Indonesia refers to the Indonesian Criminal Procedure Code ( Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Acara Pidana KUHAP). Under KUHAP, “inves - tigation” ( penyidikan ) is characterised as a sequence of actions performed by an investigator in accordance with the provisions outlined in this Law. The purpose of these actions is to seek and gather evidence that clarifies the criminal act that has taken place and to identify the suspect involved. This definition is explicitly detailed in Article 1 Number 5 of KUHAP. It specifies that an investigation com - prises a series of actions undertaken by an investiga - tor following the procedures established by this Law, aimed at discovering and assembling evidence to elu - cidate the criminal act and locate the suspect. KUHAP outlines the powers granted to investigators, including
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