Ariel: (JP/Arya Dipa)
Youngsters responded to the parole of former band Peterpan front man Nazriel Irham, aka Ariel, with various expressions on Twitter on Monday.
Tweets with hashtag #Arielbebas (Ariel free) swarmed the timeline, mostly by those who enthusiastically welcomed the pop star’s release.
Tiara Oktarinie said that she had been waiting for the happy moment for quite some time.
“Many people in this country have waited for Ariel’s release,” Tiara said on her twitter account, @aratobing.
Another Twitter user, Nanda Pratama, 19, also warmly welcomed the freedom of the vocalist, who was sent to prison following the distribution of sex videos featuring him and two women on separate occasions.
“Go out and enjoy the fresh air Ariel. Keep up the good work [in music],” said the student of the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta via his account @nandaprat.
Nanda believes the 3.5-year sentence was too heavy.
“He did not make that video for public consumption. It is not fair that he was subjected to prejudice, negative judgments and years in prison,” he said.
M. Luqman Bahar, 20, a student at Padjadjaran University in Bandung, shared a similar opinion.
“Why is he the only one to be found guilty under the Pornography Law? Many others have been involved in sex videos. We also know there is a lot of pornographic content on the Internet,” Luqman said.
Luqman cited as an example a leaked sex video featuring former lawmaker Yahya Zaini and singer Maria Eva in 2006.
The police could have investigated the case based on reports from Maria, who claimed she had aborted a pregnancy resulting from the affair. However, there has been no follow-up. Yahya then resigned as a Golkar Party legislator.
Another case involved a lawmaker, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician Arifinto, who was caught on camera watching a pornographic video during a plenary session in 2011. Arifinto resigned soon after the scandal.
Max Moein from the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was depicted naked with his secretary in pictures circulating on the Internet. The House ethics council dismissed the legislator after deeming him guilty of sexual harassment
Yudith Ananda Putri, however, had a different opinion. She said that Ariel, who was seen in sex videos with TV celebrities Cut Tari and Luna Maya, was over exposed.
“The news that Ariel is soon to be released from prison is in every newspaper. Is he really that important?” she said on her twitter account @yucancakusa.
Antara news agency reported that Ariel was greeted by dozens of fans upon his release from the penitentiary at 9:15 a.m. They screamed and cheered when a white car transporting their idol left the penitentiary.
Some fans had reportedly gathered at the yard of Kebonwaru Penitentiary since Sunday evening and spent a sleepless night there to witness their idol’s first taste of freedom.
His other fans gathered in front of Ariel’s parents’ residence in the Antapani district of Bandung. (riz/lfr)
