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ommunications and Information Technology Minister Rudiantara says a draft of the revision of the controversial clause 27 of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law has been completed.

Rudiantara said the six-year prison sentence for those involved in online defamation was reduced to three years in the revised draft. There were also parts of the law that should be revised to make them clearly in line with the Criminal Code (KUHP) so there would be no confusion regarding interpretation, he added.

'€œRegarding defamation and hate speech, there must be an efficient method to prevent this from happening. Arresting the individuals before questioning them is not the best way to enforce it. I would say a sentence of four years would prevent the police from taking up cases so hastily,'€ Rudiantara told reporters last week.

The minister was referring to the defamation clause of the law, which has been dubbed draconian by critics and activists for its potential to be abused to silence criticism and free speech, especially online.

Online defamation is specified in Article 27, paragraph 3 of the ITE Law, which criminalizes '€œanyone who deliberately distributes and/or transmits and/or makes accessible electronic information or documents that contain slanderous and defamatory language'€.

He said the revised version of the law should be approved by the House of Representatives before being implemented.

According to a joint report by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Digital Democracy Forum (DDF), Indonesian Center for Deradicalization and Wisdom (ICDW), Indonesian Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) and the Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers), 90 percent of all 118 defamation cases between 2008 and 2015 cited Clause 27 as their legal grounds.

The rise in cases, from 41 in 2014 to 44 cases in 2015, the groups said, was an indication that the law was prone and subjected to abuse, particularly toward those expressing views and opinions online.

A notable case in 2014 revolved around a university student in Yogyakarta who stood trial for defamation after making disparaging remarks about the city'€™s citizens in a moment of social media rage. Members of the public reported her to the police, citing the law as the legal background.

Regional coordinator for the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network Damar Juniarto commented that the delayed revision of the ITE Law would only threaten free speech in Indonesia even further and would also undermine the Internet'€™s role as a tool of expression.

He added that if the law was not reviewed and the defamation clause was not amended, measures such as the National Police'€™s recent circular on hate speech could be taken out of context or appear to be a product of the draconian law. Despite that, he was pessimistic that the House of Representatives would discuss the law revision as the House'€™s yearly session will come to an end on Dec. 18.

'€œThe revision of the ITE Law is not even included in the National Legislation Program [Prolegnas] discussions for 2016, and delays on discussing the topic make matters worse. They have to realize that this law is not effective due to the abuse of interpretation. Reviews of this law have been talked about since two years ago, I believe, but nothing has come up since,'€ Damar said.