A

controversial poet who criticized a book on influential literary figures in Indonesia was sentenced to five months in jail on Thursday after a Jakarta district court found him guilty of libel for calling the book’s author a “scoundrel” on Facebook.

In a packed room inside the East Jakarta District Court, dozens of people gathered to throw support behind the poet, Saut Situmorang, saying that a legal prosecution for cultural critics would set a bad precedence and seriously endanger freedom of expression.

The panel of judges, presided by Bontor Aruan, found him guilty of violating provisions in the Electric Information and Transaction (ITE) law on online defamation.

“The defendant has been legally and with certainty proven guilty of having transmitted information that contains defamation,” Bontor said.

Saut was arrested last year in his house in Yogyakarta following a police report filed by an author, Fatin Hamama, who felt offended by his comment on a Facebook page where he called her a “scoundrel” and a “whore”.

The poet said he had no qualms about using expletives against Fatin as he believed that she deserved it for manipulating facts.

Saut has strongly criticized Fatin’s book in which she lists the 33 most influential Indonesian literary figures, including Denny JA, who is known more as a political analyst and consultant than a poet. In the book, Denny was on a par with Indonesian literary giants such as Chairil Anwar and Pramoedya Ananta Toer, a claim that offended Saut.

After the court session, Fatin told The Jakarta Post that she was content with the judge’s decision, although the sentencing was lesser than what was sought by prosecutors who demanded seven months in jail.

“It doesn’t matter how long the sentence is. The most important thing is that he has been proven guilty,” said Fatin, who frequently expressed that her dignity as a woman was dishonored following Saut’s Facebook comment.

A member of Saut’s legal team, Asri Vidya Dewi, said that criticism should be responded to with criticism, as there was a consensual agreement between men of letters called Licensia Poetica, which gave writers wide-ranging freedom in articulating words to express ideas.

“She has been invited for a discussion three times by different universities. Those invitations should have become a chance for them to defend their opinions,” she said after the court session finished.

Program manager of Satu Dunia (OneWorld-Indonesia), Anwari Natari recently told the Post that the prevailing law posed a serious threat because it provides people with a false sense of security.

“When we have become accustomed to democracy’s freedom of expression, this law pops up in contrast,” he said. (fac)