Alleged fake diploma

On November 13, 2008, Sukmawati was named as a suspect in a fake diploma used as a requirement for the 2009 Indonesian legislative election candidacy of a Member of the House of Representatives candidate from PNI Marhaenisme for the electoral district of Bali.^[9] The Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) then reported Sukmawati to the National Police in July 2009, to open an investigation alleging she had falsified her high school diploma when registering as a legislative candidate for the Marhaenism Indonesian National Party.^[10] She used a photocopy of a diploma from SMA 3 Jakarta graduated in 1970, but it was not legalised. The school refused to legalise it because it stated that Sukmawati only attended school until second grade (grade 11) and did not attend school after marriage.^[11] She was only named as a suspect and not detained in this discontinued case. It was previously known that in the 2004 Indonesian legislative election, she used a certificate from SMA 22 Jakarta graduated in 1969 so she had two certificates with different graduation years.^[12][13] Police in August dropped the case, saying there was a lack of evidence as the school's records had been destroyed by a fire in 2007.^[10] Sukmawati withdrew her candidacy due to this case.

Memoir

In 2011, Sukmawati wrote a memoir about the 15 years she lived at the Merdeka Palace, called Creeping Coup d'Etat Mayjen Suharto (The Creeping Coup d’Etat of Major General Suharto). The book reveals the story of Sukmawati's life since she was born in Merdeka Palace and tells her historical testimony regarding the coup against Sukarno in 1965–1967.

She believes Suharto and other members of the military conducted a coup against Sukarno by using the Order of March 11, 1966. She said she cannot forgive Suharto for human rights violations that occurred in the aftermath of the coup.^[14]

Complaint against Rizieq Shihab

In October 2016, Sukmawati filed a police complaint against radical Muslim cleric Rizieq Shihab, accusing him of insulting Sukarno and Indonesian state ideology Pancasila. Rizieq had allegedly made a speech stating “in Sukarno's Pancasila, God is placed in the ass, whereas according to the Jakarta Charter, God is in the head”. The Jakarta Charter was a proposed preamble to Indonesia’s 1945 Constitution that would have required Muslims to follow Shariah law.^[18] Police declared Rizieq a suspect in January 2017. He fled Indonesia in May 2017 when also named a suspect in a pornography case.^[19]

Poem "Ibu Indonesia"

On 28 March 2018, Sukmawati recited a poem deemed offensive and blasphemous by some Muslims.^[20] Her poem, Ibu Indonesia (Mother Indonesia) was recited at the 29 Years of Anne Avantie Work event at Indonesia Fashion Week 2018 and intended to celebrate Indonesian fashion and tradition, which she compared to imported Islamic fashion and tradition.^[21][22] Amron Ansyhari of Hanura Party and lawyer Denny Andrian Kusdayat on 3 April reported Sukmawati to Jakarta Police for alleged blasphemy.^[23] Denny, who had in 2012 been jailed for extortion,^[24] claimed Sukmawati had belittled God by saying Mother Indonesia's ballad was more soothing than the Islamic call to prayer.^[25]

On 2 April, Presidium Alumni 212 administrator Kapitra Ampera said that the alleged violation was borderline religious blasphemy. Ampera, who is also Rizieq Shihab's lawyer, said "there is (a strong allegation) of discrediting religion. The Azan is a call to worship."^[26] as a response, Sukmawati denied this allegation, saying that her poem "has no-SARA." (SARA being an acronym for Ethnicity, Religion, Race and Intergroups (in indonesian: Suku, Agama, Ras, dan Antargolongan.) Sukmawati assumes that mothers in Eastern Indonesia do not know sharia.^[27]

Though on 4 April, Sukmawati apologized to all Indonesian Muslims, saying she was especially sorry to those who felt offended by the poem. On the same day, another two organizations, the Indonesian Ulema Defense Team (TPUI) and the Indonesian Islamic Student Movement (GMII), reported Sukmawati to police, claiming her poem was an insult.^[28] On 6 April, conservative Muslims, including children, protested in Jakarta, demanding Sukmawati be jailed.^[29][30] They said she should not be forgiven for the poem, whereas the Indonesian Ulemas Association and several politicians had called for forgiveness.^[31]