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View all search resultsAmending ITE Law: How should it look?
Revising the ITE Law is highly needed, especially to encourage members of society to express their opinions publicly without fear of criminalization.
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P
resident Joko Widodo’s recent statement on the freedom of speech has generated controversy. At an Indonesia Ombudsman event on Feb. 8 to launch its 2020 Annual Report, the President called on the public to be more vocally active in their criticisms and advice on maladministration to help improve public service.
His statement was met with skepticism, however, as criticizing the government under the Jokowi regime sounds very scary. A number of government critics have been arrested and imprisoned by the police in the last few years.
In March 2020, the police arrested Hisbun Bayu, a student at Muhammadiyah University-Surakarta, over his Instagram post that the police alleged had insulted the President. In the post, Hisbun called the President “a curse” for his investment policy that did not side with the people. In September 2019, the police detained Dandhy Laksono, a human rights activist and founder of the Watchdoc Documentary production house, after he tweeted his criticism of the government in its handling of the Papua riots, including imposing an internet blackout and arresting Papuan activists.
Law enforcers charged most government critics under Articles 27 and 28 of Law No. 11/2008 on Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE), specifically, paragraph (3) of the former and paragraph (2) of the latter. The ITE Law provisions neither offer a clear context nor sufficient elaboration on what constitutes information containing “elements of defamation” or information that could spark “hatred” or “conflicts in ethnicity, religion, race and inter-group relations [SARA]”.
The two articles can thus be conveniently used by the authorities to criminalize government critics, including those who offer their criticisms in good faith.
In fact, there is legal ground supporting the President’s call for greater criticism of government. Article 310, paragraph (3) of the Criminal Code elucidates an exception to defamation if it occurs in the service of public interests or in self-defense. In principle, Article 27, paragraph (3) of the ITE Law actually derives from Article 310 of the Criminal Code, but unfortunately this exception was not incorporated in the ITE Law.
The public controversy indicates that revising the ITE Law is highly needed, especially to encourage members of society to express their opinions publicly without fear of criminalization. It is hoped that the revised law will include several provisions and elucidations for legal clarity and certainty.
