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Netizen Jonru named hate speech suspect
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Social media persona Jonru Ginting (center) talks to reporters at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Sept. 28. (kompas.com/Akhdi Martin Pratama)
The Jakarta Police have named Jonru Ginting, a social media persona, a suspect for spreading hate speech.
His status was increased from a witness to suspect after the police grilled him for 15 hours on Thursday.
“We obtained evidence in the form of statements from witnesses and experts before naming him a suspect,” Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said on Friday as quoted by kompas.com.
Argo said the police had decided not to detain Jonru, who was still being interrogated.
Jonru has been charged under the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law concerning hate speech.
He was reported to the police by a lawyer, Muannas Al Aidid, on Aug. 31, after appearing on a TV talk show on Aug. 29, during which he admitted to writing a post questioning the identities of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s parents.
Jonru claimed that Jokowi was the only president whose parents’ identities were unclear, criticizing people who elected him to such an important position.
However, during the show, Jonru said he did not mean to offend Jokowi.
Muannas said a lot of Jonru’s posts on social media had incited hatred related to ethnic, religious, racial or societal groups (SARA).
On Sept. 4, a lawyer named Muhamad Zakir Rasyidin reported Jonru for the same reason.
Muannas reported Jonru to the police again on Sept. 19 for a comment on social media, in which he allegedly misspelled Muannas' last name “Aidid” as “Aidit” on purpose, referring to the late DN Aidit, a senior leader of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). (cal)
