Legal Notice No. 022/SOMASI/RW/IV/2026: Bernadeta Elie (English Edition)
This post summarises Somasi No. 022/SOMASI/RW/IV/2026, a formal legal notice I sent in April 2026 to Ms. Bernadeta Elie, who posted as "DeletedUser" on the community platform fomo.id. The letter was issued in Indonesian. It is a legal notice, not a police report, court filing or finding. She has not responded here, and I do not assert that she is guilty of any offence.
What the letter is about
The letter concerns posts made in October and November 2023, at the height of an online pile-on against me. What makes it different from other notices I have sent is that the author described herself as someone who had cared about me.
- A post titled "Rahmat Wibowo AWS udah kaga ketolong" (25 October 2023). In the l/AllAboutHR community, she wrote that she had tried to help me, and then used that claim as a platform for a wider criticism. I read this as using a personal relationship to make a public attack more credible, and as sharing things that came out of a private exchange (Evidence E-1).
- Character labelling in the same post. In my English rendering: "He is really digging his own grave. A pity, he seems smart. The definition of high IQ and no basic EQ, lol." The post also shared a link to my Instagram reel with her negative interpretation of it, and closed with the hope that "everyone he has bumped into stays patient and does not get trapped into replying." I read this as signalling that I was a known source of provocation.
- A comment on 2 November 2023. She wondered whether the effect of "this" would make Indonesia even less attractive to foreign companies. I read it as tying my name to damage to the country's reputation, which goes beyond personal criticism (Evidence E-2).
Harm I described
A deeper reputational injury because the attack came from someone who said she had tried to help me, which reinforced an impression that I could not be helped. I also described the "high IQ, no basic EQ" label as a character stigma that could follow me professionally, wider reach for the pile-on through the shared reel, and a link between my name and national reputational harm.
Legal basis I relied on
I wrote the letter myself, without a lawyer. It cites Art. 27A with Art. 45(4) and (6) of the ITE Law, and Civil Code Art. 1365. It treats the "high IQ, no EQ" label and the foreign-investment remark as statements that could not be proven true.
Limits of this record
- This is my account and my legal reading; no authority has made a finding.
- The posts date from 2023. I quote them in translation from screenshots, and only two screenshots are annexed to the letter.
- The letter treats the post as public contempt dressed up as concern. A reader could instead see it as an opinion about someone's behaviour, and whether it meets the legal elements is for the authorities and a court.
- The letter's header gives 29 April 2026 as its date while its signature block says 18 April 2026. I have kept the header date.
- Ms. Elie's identity as the holder of the "DeletedUser" account is my identification and is untested.
- I am not a lawyer, and this post is not legal advice.
Right of reply and correction
Ms. Bernadeta Elie is invited to respond, correct, or add context. A substantive reply may be published alongside this article, edited only for privacy, safety and relevance. If reliable evidence shows any statement here is wrong, I will correct it and note the change.
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