Update Jan. 20: Siwi finally showed up at the Jakarta Metro Police HQ to testify against @digeeembok.
Update Jan. 17: Siwi has now failed to meet two police summons for testimony as she was absent for today’s scheduled questioning at the Jakarta Metro Police, saying that she had to visit her sick mother. Police have rescheduled the questioning for Monday.
Update Jan. 14: Siwi’s testimony against @digeeembok has been postponed until further notice as she failed to show up at the Jakarta Metro Police yesterday as she couldn’t get out of work. In a tweet, @digeeembok responded by taunting Siwi, suggesting that she was scared to testify.
Original story follows below.
Following a lull in developments over the Christmas and New Year break, the topic of salacious scandals surrounding flag carrier Garuda Indonesia looks set to once again dominate conversation in the country, this time over a defamation lawsuit filed by an air hostess who was accused by a whistleblower of being the mistress of a former airline executive, and more.
Last month, Garuda was besieged by a number of highly damaging scandals, beginning with the dismissal of its president director, Ari Askhara, after he was caught smuggling Harley Davidson motorbike parts and expensive folding bikes using a Garuda plane. Then, a whistleblower going by the handle @digeeembok on Twitter made some super explosive allegations about the existence of “prostitution” within the ranks of Garuda’s air hostesses.
One of the main points @digeeembok made in his hugely popular (and long) Twitter threads was that some air hostesses received preferential treatment after becoming involved in affairs with Garuda executives.
Allegations about one air hostess, named Siwi Widi Purwanti, was of particular highlight, as @digeeembok alleged that she was the mistress of former Garuda Indonesia Human Capital Director Heri Akhyar, who was dismissed from his post last month along with Askhara as a result of the smuggling scandal.
https://twitter.com/digeeembok/status/1204023955230617600?s=20
According to @digeeembok, Siwi benefited financially from the relationship, in that she went abroad for plastic surgery on Garuda’s dime and was able to live an upscale life.
In addition, @digeeembok alleged that she was also a mistress to numerous bosses across Indonesian state-owned enterprises, even assisting in money laundering schemes for some.
Siwi fought back against the allegations by filing a lawsuit against @digeeembok to the Jakarta Metro Police for defamation against her and her profession in late December. But Siwi only publicly announced the lawsuit on Friday due to what she said were scheduling conflicts as she is still employed as a Garuda air hostess.
“Flight attending as a profession is a noble one, a respected one, and it has been smeared, which is bad because now the profession is being linked to negative things,” Siwi’s lawyer, Elza Syarief, said during a press conference.
The Jakarta Metro Police said that Siwi, as well as two other witnesses, are scheduled to testify against @digeeembok today.
What is likely going to be a major hindrance to the investigation is that authorities have so far been unable to determine who is behind the @digeeembok account. After all, Siwi is not the first person to file a defamation lawsuit against @digeeembok — Garuda’s cabin crew VP, Roni Eka Mirsa, also reported the whistleblower to the police after he was accused of being a “pimp” by prostituting air hostesses to airline bosses, but police investigation into the matter seems to have gone nowhere.
