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t least 10 local councilors of the Gorontalo regency legislative council in Gorontalo province filed a lawsuit against a civil servant who works at the Emergency Response Unit (Tagana) for a post he wrote on his Facebook account, adding to the growing list of people charged with the draconian 2008 Law on Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE).

The councilors reported the civil servant, identified only as ML, for alleged defamation over the latter’s Facebook status posted on Nov. 5. In the status, he quoted a councilor for questioning the slow distribution of aid for flood victims.

“As a [member] of the disaster response unit and KSB [disaster preparedness program for villages], we are also humans, sir. We lose time with our families for work and for daily routines just to help people affected by floods. Is it proper for a councilor [to question that],” wrote ML, who works at Tagana in Gorontalo regency.

He used the term “rogue individual” in referring to the councilor and even though no names were mentioned in the post, council speaker Syahmid Henu felt insulted by it.

“I learned of it after being informed by fellow councilors. They said I was being bullied on Facebook,” Syahmid told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He said the case arose on Nov. 5 when he saw Tagana members distributing rice and instant noodles at the Datahu subdistrict administration office in Tibawa district, not far from his house.

The subdistrict where Syahmid resides happened to be one of the affected areas inundated by floods for a day on Oct. 26.

He approached the Tagana members and directly asked one of them why the aid was only distributed that day long after the flood hit in October.

“My question was not answered, then suddenly it appeared on Facebook,” said the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician.

ML’s Facebook post was then discussed at the legislative council that later decided that as an institution it would file a police report against ML. The report was filed on Monday.

“ML has committed defamation against all of the councilors,” he said.

Each of the 10 councilors filing the police report represented a number of parties including the PDI-P, Hanura Party, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Democratic Party, National Mandate Party (PAN) and the United Development Party (PPP).

Although ML was not available for comment, he had previously admitted to a local media outlet that encouragement from a friend prompted him to post the status.

“I wrote what I saw in the status because what we distributed was indeed post-flood aid. We have a standard operational procedure on which aid comes before and which ones after. We have worked voluntarily to help the flood victims but were met with such a reception,” said ML as quoted by local online media on Nov. 22.

The case continues the alarming trend of local politicians using the ITE law and the Criminal Code (KUHP) on defamation, which carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison, to silence their critics. In another case, the draconian law saw a housewife, Yusniar, in Makassar, South Sulawesi, stand trial after being reported by a local councilor.

The Makassar District Court suspended her detention on Wednesday but refused to drop her case amid growing protests from the public. Yusniar was charged with the ITE Law and the KUHP after a local councilor of the Jeneponto legislative council in South Sulawesi filed a report against her over remarks she made on her Facebook account.

 She submitted a post on her Facebook account a day after her parents’ house on Jl. Sultan Alauddin was attacked by 100 people, allegedly including Sudirman. However, Yusniar did not mention any names in her post.