INDONESIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Lia Alizia, Jonathan Andreas Sitorus and El Yefta Akwila, Alizia & Partners Law Office
protect rights to representation and confidentiality, and protections afforded to reporters while attempting alternative methods for collecting evidence, such as seeking information from other witnesses or reviewing written and digital records such as emails, access logs and digital footprints. Employers should observe the applicable related regulations, including the Personal Data Protection Law, when collecting the personal data of individuals. 3.3 Format Indonesian law does not prescribe a specific format for investigations. The interview may be carried out via Teams, Zoom or any other remote platform, provided that the parties mutually agree to such an arrange - ment. 3.4 Interviewers There is no legislation governing the number of inves - tigators who may conduct interviews. The number of interviewers is determined by the complexity of the alleged violation and the breadth of information avail - able. Likewise, there are no protocols around the qualifications of interviewers. Some practical consid - erations used to determine the interviewer follow: • objectivity – interviewers must be free from con - flicts of interest to ensure impartiality; • gender – particularly in cases such as sexual har - assment, gender alignment between the interview - er and complainant may be necessary to provide comfort and avoid traumatisation; • expertise – interviewers should have relevant knowledge or experience related to the matter being investigated, so they can properly under - stand the context and assess the information provided; and • seniority – interviewers should be sufficiently senior to understand context and procedures, but not so senior as to create undue psychological pressure. 3.5 Neutral Party Indonesian law does not specifically mandate a neu - tral third party in HR investigation interviews. How - ever, companies often include neutral witnesses or external parties in sensitive cases, especially when bias, conflicts of interest or issues such as harass - ment or discrimination are involved. This approach
helps ensure fairness, protect credibility and provide stronger support if the case escalates legally. 3.6 Support Person and/or Lawyer In Indonesia, interviewees may be accompanied by a lawyer in certain legal or investigative contexts, but the right is not absolute across all types of interviews. In addition, the presence of a support person (non- lawyer) is generally not a guaranteed right under Indo - nesian law, though some institutions allow it as part of ethical or humanitarian practice. Indonesia’s Advocate Law makes it clear that lawyers can help their clients not only in court but also out - side the court (during interviews such as in HR internal investigations). In that case, the interviewees, which include the reporter, respondent and/or the witnesses being questioned, have the right to be accompanied by a lawyer without needing permission from the inter - HR internal investigations in Indonesia do not have a single codified statute like criminal investigations under KUHAP, but best practice and manpower law principles (especially those tied to fairness, transpar - ency and due process under Indonesian manpower laws and general industrial relations norms) guide what interviewers should communicate. HR internal investigators should provide purpose, role, rights, confidentiality and process details at the start, and summary, clarifications, next steps, documen - tation and confidentiality reminders at the end. This ensures compliance with fairness principles under Indonesian manpower laws and reduces the risk of disputes. 3.8 Stopping the Interview HR interviews are not criminal interrogations as they are part of company procedures. An employee can request that the interview be stopped at any time. If the interviewee requests that the interview be stopped, the interviewer should immediately cease obtaining information and suspend the process until the inter - viewee agrees to continue the interview. nal investigators. 3.7 Information
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