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ITE Law ‘survivors’ recount their tale, push for a revision
Several people charged with the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law recount their stories in a book recently published by a coalition of rights groups, hoping the government will consider to revise the draconian cyberlaw.
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Members of the Corruption Eradication People’s Committee rally outside the State Palace on Jan. 8, 2019, to demand that the government abolish articles in the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law they deem to be a threat to the freedom of expression. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
I
t never occurred to Wadji, a lecturer at Kanjuruhan University in Malang, East Java, that a joke he made and shared in a private WhatsApp group could land him in a courtroom facing a defamation charge under the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law.
In January 2018, he uploaded a photo of two colleagues, both bald, in a WhatsApp group for the university’s lecturers and employees. Along with the photo, he shared a caption calling them “the chairman and secretary-general of Persatuan Gundul Republik Indonesia [Indonesian Baldheaded Union]” -- a wordplay of the Indonesian Teachers Union (PGRI).
But roughly a month later, he received a notification that he had been reported by the chairman and deputy chairman of the East Java branch of the PGRI for allegedly defaming the organization with the photo. The chairman Ichwan Sumadi and his deputy Husin Matamin were not in the WhatsApp group when Wadji shared the photo.
According to the police report, the plaintiff used a screenshot of the WhatsApp group made by a Kanjuruhan University staff member to make the report.
“I was just making a joke,” Wadji told The Jakarta Post on Saturday. “I believe there was another motive behind the allegation.”
A year later, Wadji’s case was heard in Malang District Court. The bench eventually found him guilty in January 2020 and sentenced him to three months in prison and a Rp 10 million (US$689) fine.
The Supreme Court later cleared him of all charges in March, arguing that the defamation provision in the cyberlaw only applies to people, not organizations. But by then, he had spent more than three years in limbo due to the long legal process. He has also not been permitted to teach in the past three years.
