The police'€™s spokesperson, Adj. Sr. Comr.Anny Pudjiastuti, said Florence'€™s arrest was normal because she was being uncooperative.

'€œWe arrested her because she had attempted to make evidence materials disappear and was [being] uncooperative,'€ she said.

Florence was reported to the police after she made comments deemed insulting to Yogyakarta residents on her Path account. The graduate student has been detained in a special detention facility at the Yogyakarta Police station since 5 p.m. local time on Saturday.

Anny went on to say that during the preliminary questioning, Florence had refused to sign her case dossier. '€œShe should have been cooperative and requested for a detention delay. Moreover, she is a student,'€ she said.

Anny said that during the arrest, the police confiscated Florence'€™s mobile phone as evidence. She added that Florence could be charged with violating Article 27 of the Law No.11/2008 on information and electronic transactions regarding the destruction of honor and insult against other people,

The incident began when Flo, as she is known, wanted to buy Pertamax for her Scoopy motorbike at a Lempuyangan area gas station in Yogyakarta earlier last week. Impatient with a long line of motorcyclists at the pump, Flo jumped into the line designated for cars to fill her motorbike. Her action elicited sharp protests from car drivers who had also been waiting in the long line. The graduate student burst into anger when she was warned by a military officer to get back in line.

Following the incident, Flo expressed her anger on her Path account, saying that '€œJogja is poor, idiotic, uncivilized. Friends from Jakarta and Bandung, don'€™t stay in Jogja.'€

Florence was reported to have posted several other angry comments on her account before she closed it on Thursday evening.

'€œThe problem is simple, actually. If Flo agreed to apologize for her comments, this would not be prolonged,'€ said Kurniawan, a Yogyakarta resident who has been asked to help mediate between Flo and a number of Yogyakarta community groups angered by her Path comments.

Until Thursday evening, Florence had not issued an apology, prompting16 Yogyakarta society groups to report her to the police.

Florence'€™s lawyer, Wibowo Malik, said the arrest was exaggerated, as his client had sought to make an apology. '€œThere are many cases that are more urgent, such as corruption cases, whose alleged perpetrators remain free,'€ said Malik. He admitted that his client had refused to sign the case dossier. '€œIt is her right to decide whether or not she wants to sign the dossier,'€ he said.

Malik said he would submit a request for a detention delay concerning the status of his client as a student. Separately, the Ethics Council of the University of Gadjah Mada's school of law said it would question Flo this week. (ebf)

Popular

HSBC’s The Redefining Treasury Asia Pacific reveals shift toward real-time treasury

NU in deadlock over Yahya chairmanship

Why rules of corporate reputation are still ignored in Indonesia