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Unequal power makes women brunt of cyber law
Against the backdrop of International Women’s Day on March 8, several Indonesian women are facing lawsuits or still recovering from unfair legal suits filed against them through the problematic Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) Law, which was amended last year
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Feminist jurisprudence considers that the law has historically been used to subordinate women. (Shutterstock/File)
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gainst the backdrop of International Women’s Day on March 8, several Indonesian women are facing lawsuits or still recovering from unfair legal suits filed against them through the problematic Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) Law, which was amended last year.
Take the case of Ira Simatupang, a doctor at Tangerang Regional Hospital who reported her colleague’s attempted rape to the police in 2008. The investigation stopped due to insufficient evidence in 2009 and she was fired from the hospital.
She then reported the rape attempt and unfair treatment she received to her supervisor and colleagues via email, but her email was then used by her former supervisor as a basis to take her to court. She was sentenced to five months in jail by the Tangerang District Court for defamation.
Similarly, in 2014 Wisni Yetti, who reported her husband for alleged domestic violence at the time of their divorce process was also prosecuted under the ITE Law. Wisni’s ex-husband reported her on the grounds of a private message on a social media platform that he considered pornographic. The ex-husband accessed Wisni’s social media account without her consent and printed the chat, which became evidence in court.
Although the use of evidence contradicted the spirit of the ITE Law, which protects online privacy, the Bandung District Court convicted and sentenced her to five months in jail. The Bandung High Court exonerated her eventually.
The latest example is Yusniar, a housewife in Makassar, who is charged with defamation due to her social media post complaining that her parents had been bothered by a group of people. Yusniar did not identify the people, but local politician Sudirman Sijaya reported her to the police for slander.
She has been in police custody pending the court’s verdict. If proven guilty she may spend another eight months in jail.
