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Sukarno’s daughter reported to police for alleged blasphemy
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Sukmawati Soekarnoputri talks to journalists after speaking at a discussion on the reconciliation of the 1965 tragedy in South Jakarta on Sept. 30, 2016. (tribunnews.com/Nurmulia Rekso Purnomo)
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lawyer and a prominent Muslim organization have filed a report against Sukmawati Soekarnoputri, daughter of the late first president Sukarno, for alleged blasphemy as they complained that her poem contained insults to Islam.
The lawyer, named Denny Andrian Kusdayat, filed the complaint to the Jakarta Police on Tuesday. He argued that Sukmawati’s poem titled Ibu Indonesia (Mother Indonesia) insulted Islam and had invited waves of public scrutiny.
Sukmawati read the poem during a fashion event held to celebrate famous designer Anne Avantie’s 29th anniversary in fashion on Thursday.
Denny claimed that Sukmawati read the poem in which she allegedly compared sharia to konde (traditional hair bun), mocked cadar (full-face veil) and insulted adzan (Muslim call to prayer).
"If we are talking about adzan that means insulting God because there is the word Allah mentioned,” he said as reported by tempo.co, adding that his move was based on his own initiative and not based on any group.
In his report, Denny also handed over the video of Sukmawati reading the poem, which was also found on several social media posts. He accused the sister of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri of violating Article 156a of the Criminal Code on blasphemy and the 2008 law on the elimination of racialism.
Besides Jakarta, Sukmawati was also reported by the East Java branch of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) to the East Java Police.
“The content of the poem was disrespectful to religion,” East Java NU chairman Hasan Mutawakkil Alallah said on Tuesday.
The group decided to file a report to the police, arguing that there should be a legal action taken against Sukmawati so that her poem would not create sectarian issues in public, especially ahead of the 2018 regional elections and 2019 presidential and legislative elections.
“We are afraid that this issue would be taken advantage of by those who dislike peace in Indonesia,” he said, adding that the NU urged all Muslims to remain calm and not be easily provoked. (dpk/rin)
