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Jakarta Post

Seven social media managers arrested over jobs law protests

Moch. Fiqih Prawira Adjie (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, October 22, 2020

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Seven social media managers arrested over jobs law protests

T

he National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) has arrested seven social media managers and named them suspects in connection to the recent wave of protests against the Job Creation Law.

Bareskrim general crimes director Brig. Gen. Ferdy Sambo said the seven suspects either managed WhatsApp groups or accounts on social media platforms. He alleged that they played vital roles in the series of protests that occurred in Jakarta between Oct. 8 and Oct. 13.

"Three suspects are administrators of WhatsApp groups consisting of vocational school students from throughout Greater Jakarta; three are administrators of a Greater Jakarta-based Facebook [page] and one is an administrator of the Instagram account @panjang.umur.perlawanan [long live resistance],” Ferdy told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He claimed that the accounts were used to incite riots during the protests and noted that the Facebook page had about 21,000 followers.

The police have charged the suspects under multiple articles of the Criminal Code, including Article 160 on provocation to commit criminal acts, which carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison.

Protests against the Job Creation Law – which critics have said could undermine labor rights and environmental protections – have now entered their third week in Jakarta and other major cities in Indonesia after the House of Representatives passed the bill into law on Oct. 5.

The National Police previously said protests had occurred in all 34 provinces of the country as of Oct. 8.

In Jakarta alone, the police had named 131 people suspects as of Tuesday for allegedly rioting during the rallies in the capital.

The Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) noted that the Twitter accounts of certain civil groups that had been critical of the jobs law had been suspended.

The digital rights watchdog accused the government of being behind the restrictions, claiming that they were part of a systematic effort to muzzle political speech in the country, particularly against the new law.

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