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niversity of Indonesia (UI) lecturer Ade Armando said he was baffled as to why he was charged with hate speech over a comment that he made on Facebook and Twitter almost two years ago.

On May 20, 2015, Ade wrote on his social media accounts that the Quran could be read in various styles as “God is not an Arab”.

He was teasing a group of Muslims who criticized the State Palace for reciting the Quran to a Javanese melody during an event to commemorate the birth of Prophet Muhammad.

“I think it’s very clear that what I wrote is not blasphemous, and it does not spark hatred in society, even though that is what I have been charged with,” said Ade, who was initially reported for blasphemy but is now being charged with spreading hate.

Ade was reported to the police by Johan Khan on May 23, 2015. Ade said he did know who Johan was, but Johan had repeatedly demanded that Ade apologize for his statements.

On Wednesday, Ade was notified that he had been charged with violating the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law, which criminalizes online defamation and hate speech.

More and more people have been reported for or charged with blasphemy, defamation or hate speech.

The Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) recorded at least 708 online defamation and hate speech cases in 2016, though only 166 were settled by the police.

The trend followed the police’s controversial decision to charge Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama with blasphemy after hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Jakarta demanded that he be prosecuted for allegedly insulting the Quran.

Ahok’s case seems to have triggered a snowball effect.

Recently, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri was reported for alleged blasphemy over a speech she made during the party’s 44th anniversary.

Megawati, whose party backed Ahok’s bid in the gubernatorial election, said that the country must be wary of groups with “closed ideologies” that “claim to predict the future, including life after death, even though they have not seen it themselves”.

The report against Megawati was filed by the spokesperson of the Alliance of the Nation for Anti-Religious Blasphemy, Baharuzaman, who also happened to be a former chairman of the North Jakarta chapter of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI).

FPI leader Rizieq Shihab, who has been the loudest advocate for pushing the blasphemy charges against Ahok, has been reported to the police for allegedly insulting Pancasila, spreading hate speech and insulting Christianity.

The legal process against Ahok encouraged people to use laws to attack their enemies, said ICJR executive director Supriyadi Widodo Eddyono.

The insult provisions in the 1965 Blasphemy Law, the ITE Law and the Criminal Code are too vague, making it easy for people to accuse other people of crimes, he explained.

“People can easily file reports because the laws are vague. Such laws allow people to report each other to the police.”

He said the police have been overwhelmed with investigating public reports on these matters and that cases are getting out of hand.

“Police investigators should be able to investigate real crimes, such as corruption and drug trafficking, rather than being burdened by investigating insults,” he said.

Meanwhile, UI law expert Ganjar Laksmana said the insult reports show a gap between people’s legal awareness and demands for performance improvement in law enforcement agencies.

This shows a setback of public perception of law; instead of seeing criminal law as an instrument to protect order, people use it as a tool to go against other people who they do not like, Ganjar said.