Students expelled for Facebook comments

Five students have been expelled from their senior high school in Probolinggo, East Java, for lambasting school authorities on social networking site Facebook.

One of the students, Mega Ayu Korina, has now enrolled in another school, but acknowledges that she remained traumatized about going to school.

“I still feel ashamed because I carry the stigma of being dismissed from school for what they say are serious violations. I didn’t have malicious intentions toward the teachers at school. I only intended to express my protests, which have never been heeded by the school,” Mega said.

The incident began when Devi Rizki posted “The school is not responsible” at the end of July.

Devi’s comment attracted several of her friends, including Mega, Anisa Nurul Hidayah, Rosdiana Islamiati, Robby Arifin Irmansyah and Hizaburrahman Geraldi.

“I’m very irritated. Hani’s helmet strap was cut by a razor just now, but there was no response from the school. My shoelaces were also cut, but the school board is keeping quiet. The school authorities are taking no responsibility. They are stupid. The student body only likes money,” she wrote.

Mega, Devi, Anisa, Robby and Rosdiana were dismissed by their school, state senior high SMA 2 Bojonegoro, on Aug. 9 for what the school called profanity while Hizaburrahman was suspended for several weeks.

Devi’s father, Sunadi, said the school principal had demanded that Devi and her friends apologize through Facebook or face being charged under the information technology and electronic transaction law, which carries a possible six-year prison sentence and fines of Rp 1 billion (US$112,000).

Mega’s uncle, Arif Sulivan, said the principal had also warned the students’ relatives against leaking the news to the press.

The school authorities refused to confirm the students’ dismissal.

This is not the first such incident. Four students were expelled from their school in Riau for allegedly defaming a teacher through Facebook in February.

The director of the Surabaya branch of the Legal Aid Institution for the Media, Attoillah, said the school should have clarified the issues discussed on the Facebook posts and responded to the students’ complaints.