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View all search resultsLaw expert reported over food self-sufficiency remarks as clampdown against critics grows
Constitutional law expert Feri Amsari became the latest government critic to be reported to the police over comments on the food self-sufficiency program.
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A document that reads "Freedom of Speech" is seen on a desk under a gavel in this undated illustration. (Shutterstock/kamitana)
C
onstitutional law expert Feri Amsari has been reported to the Jakarta Police by a farmers’ group over his remarks questioning the government’s claim of food self-sufficiency, adding to a growing list of observers facing legal action over their criticism of the government.
Feri, a lecturer at Andalas University, was reported over alleged violations of the Criminal Code, with LBH Tani Nusantara farmers group filing a police report on Friday over alleged false statements and a student identified only as RMN a day before citing alleged public incitement.
Both complainants took issue with Feri’s recent remarks in public forums, with the LBH Tani Nusantara accusing him of making misleading statements that Indonesia has not achieved food self-sufficiency.
“[We are reporting him] for spreading hoaxes, for his slander that [Indonesia] does not have food self-sufficiency and for saying fake news that rice self-sufficiency also did not exist,” LBH Tani Nusantara member Itho Simamora said at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Friday, as quoted by Antara.
A prominent government critic, Feri has recently criticized various policies under the current administration, including the government’s claim earlier this year that Indonesia had achieved food and rice self-sufficiency in 2025, far exceeding its four-year original target.
“According to fellow economists, there’s no way Indonesia has [already achieved] food self-sufficiency. The data on the country’s rice imports are fake,” Feri said in a late-march discussion among observers, a video of which was posted on YouTube on good governance advocacy channel Sociocorner on April 2.
Feri questioned how rice imports could suddenly drop this year compared to previous years, a criticism he reiterated during a televised debate on April 15.
