BALI — Lawyers representing former Bali Regional Office Head of the National Land Agency (BPN), I Made Daging, have questioned the reporting mechanism at the Bali Regional Police (Polda Bali) after their efforts to bring the detained suspect to file a police report over alleged document forgery have yet to materialize.

Through his legal team, I Made Daging intends to file a counter-report against I Made Tarip and other related parties over alleged document forgery linked to a land certificate dispute in the Balangan Beach area of Jimbaran, Badung, Bali.

Daging's lawyers, Gede Pasek Suardika and I Made Ariel Suardana, said they had submitted a request for their client to be allowed to file the report directly since September 21, 2026. However, as of Monday, October 5, 2026, the report had not been filed in person.

The issue escalated when the legal team went to the Bali Police headquarters on Monday. They said they remained at the police complex from around 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. WITA and were involved in a nearly two-hour dispute with investigators over the reporting procedure.

Gede Pasek Suardika said his team questioned why I Made Daging could not be brought to the Bali Police headquarters to personally submit his report. According to Pasek, investigators from the Bali Police Criminal Investigation Directorate (Ditreskrimum) said that the complainant or victim must appear in person to file a report.

At the same time, however, he said investigators from the Bali Police Special Criminal Investigation Directorate (Ditreskrimsus) had not given permission for Daging to leave the detention facility and appear before Ditreskrimum.

He expressed hope that newly appointed Bali Police Chief Brigadier General Pol. Pasma Royce would address the issue.

“Hopefully, the new Bali Police Chief can fix this. Why should it be so difficult for someone to file a report?” he said. Pasek said the legal team had also asked investigators to come to the Bali Police detention facility (Dit Tahti) to receive the report directly from I Made Daging. According to him, the request was not carried out.

Pasek claimed investigators from Ditreskrimsus told the legal team that preventing Daging from appearing to file the report was an instruction from the directorate.

“According to the investigators from Criminal Special Investigation, they said, ‘This is an instruction from the Criminal Special Investigation Directorate.’ They said the directorate instructed them not to allow Mr. Daging to come here to report and that his lawyers alone were sufficient,” Pasek said.

Meanwhile, according to Pasek, Ditreskrimum required the complainant to appear personally.

The conflicting positions, he said, have created uncertainty over which procedure the public should follow.

“It turns out that the Criminal Investigation Directorate instructed that the person himself must come to file the report. Within the same Bali Police headquarters, there are two directorates with different views. Which one should the public follow?” he said.

Pasek said the situation should be resolved internally by the new Bali Police Chief.

“Perhaps the new Bali Police Chief needs to put all of this in order,” he said.

The dispute over the reporting mechanism comes as the legal process against I Made Daging enters an extension of his detention period, according to his lawyers. Pasek said Daging had undergone three interrogations as a suspect.

During the first and second examinations, the legal team said Daging remained cooperative and provided additional information requested by investigators.

However, during the third examination, the lawyers recorded that Daging would not provide further testimony until his right to file a report had been facilitated.

“During the third interrogation, we included a statement that he was unwilling to provide testimony unless his right to file a report was granted. And that right has still not been given until now,” Pasek said.

Pasek said the detention process had subsequently entered its extension period. He also said the legal team was waiting for the new Bali Police Chief to evaluate the handling of the case.

“We are waiting for the new Police Chief. There may need to be a special team to examine this case and determine whether it is reasonable or unreasonable. If irregularities are found, then clean it up,” he said.

The legal team is also considering bringing the issue to the Professional and Security Division (Propam) of the Bali Police. Pasek said reporting the matter to Propam was one of the options currently being considered.

“That is one of the options. Propam Bali. But we will see,” he said. If the matter cannot be resolved through that mechanism, the legal team may consider taking the complaint to a higher level, he added.

Beyond the difficulty in filing a report, Daging's lawyers also questioned the substance of the criminal case against their client.

Pasek pointed to what he described as similarities between the object involved in the current case and a previous case that, according to him, had already been terminated.

“What we are questioning is the correlation between the determination of the suspect for alleged document forgery and the fact that the object of the case is the same as the one in the previous case that was terminated,” he said.

According to Pasek, the issue concerns legal certainty because the alleged act and object are said to be the same, while different legal provisions are now being applied.

“The object is the same, but the previous case was terminated. Now a different article is being used. The alleged act remains the same. Is that allowed? There must be legal certainty,” he said.

He argued that repeatedly processing the same object under different criminal provisions could create legal uncertainty.

Pasek stressed that his team's immediate objective is not to demand that the report be accepted, but to ensure that Daging is given an opportunity to submit it through the proper procedure.

“What we are fighting for is simply for our client to be able to file the report,” he said. As of the publication of this report, Ditreskrimsus and Ditreskrimum Polda Bali had not provided statementsregarding the alleged differences in instructions, the reason Daging was not allowed to appear personally to file the report, or the allegations concerning the handling of the underlying case.

The allegations presented in this article are based on statements from I Made Daging's legal team. The police's response has not yet been obtained.