With a vast majority of Indonesians having an online presence, controversies are often talked about or are started on social media.

Never boring or in a lull, social media in Indonesia is always busy. A 2020 research by the Indonesian Internet Providers Association (APJII) showed that the country had the most internet users in Southeast Asia and was the fourth biggest in the world, with over 196 million internet users. This year, it has risen to 210 million users, two-thirds of the United States’ number of users.

With that many Indonesians online, it is no surprise that public discourse would often happen on social media, including controversies that grip the nation, from politics to entertainment.

Indonesian brands in Paris controversy

This picture taken on Oct. 1 shows tear gas released by police among people crowded in the stands after a football match between Arema FC and Persebaya at the Kanjuruhan stadium in Malang, East Java. (AFP/STR)

In March, 10 Indonesian brands were announced to join the Paris Fashion Show during Paris Fashion Week (PFW) 2022 as part of Gerakan Ekonomi Kreatif (the Creative Economy Movement) or Gekraf, organized by its fashion division.

Gekraf accommodated the 10 participating brands in the event. The brand collaborations that were part of the Gekraf Paris Fashion show included Scarlett by IKYK, 3 Second by Danjyo Hiyoji, Greenlight by Ican Harem, Shade Signature by Kosme Mask and more.

While many were ecstatic about the presence of local brands in Paris, some claimed that the brands misled the public by having Paris Fashion Week in the headline of the Gekraf show. Gekraf was not listed as part of PFW 2022, scheduled by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM) as the official PFW organizer.

After the controversy, several brands released a statement to clarify their standing.

MS Glow acknowledged that there had been some misleading information circulating in regard to its participation in PFW 2022.

“We felt that it was an opportunity to introduce Indonesia’s local products and culture abroad. However, when the event attracted comments, we realized that there was ambiguity in the information,” the MS Glow team clarified on Instagram.

Indonesian university apologizes for discriminating against non-binary student 

In August, an Indonesian student at Universitas Hasanuddin (UNHAS), Makassar, Muhammad “Nabil” Arif Adhitya, was allegedly called out by Faculty of Law deputy dean Hasrul for “unconventional mannerism.”

Nabil describes themself as nonbinary. As a result, Hasral allegedly forced Nabil to identify his gender in front of other attendees.

The university's dean, Jamaluddin Jompa, issued an apology stating that UNHAS was an inclusive place for all, as detik reported. The faculty also guaranteed Nasbil’s safety from any discriminatory treatment. 

Citayam Fashion Week

Misleading: Jordi Onsu, owner of Geprek Bensu restaurant, poses with a model who wears Geprek Bensu dress during Paris Fashion Show, separate from revered Paris Fashion Week, on March 7. (Instagram/Jordi Onsu @jordionsu) (Instagram/Jordi Onsu @jordionsu)

In early July, Citayam Fashion Week was the talk of the town. It was a scene in which teenagers from Citayam, West Java, were able to showcase impeccable and eclectic fashion styles. Citayam is an area situated on the outskirts of Jakarta, between Depok and Bogor, an hour’s train ride away.

The event itself was held in the Dukuh Atas transit-oriented development (TOD) area, in the heart of the Sudirman business district in Jakarta. The event became famous on social media and many media outlets, labeling the Citayam Fashion Week as the next Harajuku, the area in Tokyo known for its youth culture.

The fashion phenomenon garnered controversies in its early stage because many littered and loitered across the public area. However, as it subsided, talks about the lack of public spaces and the country’s socio-spatial divide started to open up. Jakarta public spaces are well-known to be vehicle-centric, only leaving little room for any free space to be traversed on foot.

Baim Wong’s domestic violence prank

Gubernur Jawa Barat Ridwan Kamil (kiri) berbincang dengan Wakil Gubernur Uu Ruzhanul Ulum (kanan) di sela-sela rapat Gugus Tugas Percepatan Penanggulangan COVID-19 di Makodam III Siliwangi, Bandung, Jawa Barat, Senin (22/6/2020). Rapat tersebut membahas evaluasi dan perkembangan penanganan dalam memutus rantai penularan COVID-19 di Jawa Barat. (Antara/M Agung Rajasa)

Domestic violence became entertainment fodder after singer Lesti Kejora reported her husband, fellow celebrity Rizky Billar, over domestic violence.

Amidst the controversy, celebrity YouTuber Baim Wong and his wife Paula Verhoeven created a “prank” video where Paula pretended to report a domestic violence occurrence to the police. After a backlash, Baim has since apologized.

“I had no intention to mock or degrade the police institution. In contrast, I wanted to know their [the police] reaction when a public figure such as Paula Verhouven reports such allegations," Baim said as quoted by detik.

In 2020, Komnas Perempuan reported 11,105 domestic cases of violence, where 59 percent of the victims were wives. In an interview with The Jakarta Post, National Commission on Violence Against Women (KOMNAS Perempuan) commissioner Alimatul Qibtiyah said normalizing domestic violence would only worsen the situation.

The scholar also shared that public figures were often given a platform to explain themselves, which often led to justifications of their actions. This suggests that there are impunities for abusive individuals from certain backgrounds or privileges.

West Java vice governor’s push for polygamy and youth marriage

Argentina's forward #10 Lionel Messi lifts the World Cup trophy during the Qatar 2022 World Cup trophy ceremony after the football final match between Argentina and France at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha on December 18, 2022. Argentina won in the penalty shoot-out. (AFP/Franck Fife)

Several months ago, research by the National AIDS Commission of Indonesia (KPA) showed that 11 percent of the 5,943 HIV cases in Bandung from 1991-2021 were housewives who were infected by the disease from their cheating husbands.

Responding to the research, West Java vice governor Uu Ruzhanul Ulum told Kompas.com last August, “I think the solution to the [high] number of HIV/AIDS is in youth marriages and polygamy for those who are married.” The first solution, he explained, was to curb teens’ sexual urges and the second was for husbands who considered extramarital affairs.

Uu’s statement created quite a backlash on social media that West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) themselves had to step in.

“[Polygamy] is not a solution, even for married couples,” the MUI secretary for West Java Rafani Achyar said on Aug. 30. Meanwhile, Ridwan Kamil mentioned in an Instagram post on the same day that he “personally disagrees” with Uu’s opinion, further listing down ongoing actions to tackle HIV/AIDS cases in West Java, from early HIV screenings and tests to counseling for its treatment.

Indonesia vs Bjorka 

The enigma: This screencapture shows the infamous profile picture of Bjork, a hacker who caused a stir in Indonesia's social media by showing the country's weak cybersecurity. (KOMPAS/Galuh Putri Riyanto) (KOMPAS/Galuh Putri Riyanto)

In September, a hacker with the pseudonym Bjorka stirred a rift on Twitter by leaking millions of data online.

He admitted that he was successful in hacking classified documents from the Indonesian Intelligence Bureau (BIN).

Prior to his viral emergence in Twitter and Instagram, his acts were unleashed on breached.to website.

The Post reported that Bjorka offered some 3.2 billion personal data entries from the health surveillance application PeduliLindungi on the market through an online forum on Nov. 15.  The Post also previously reported that Bjorka had obtained 44 million personal data, apparently belonging to users of the fuel payment app MyPertamina, which was up for sale on the same forum five days earlier.

In September, cybersecurity company Surfshark placed Indonesia as one of the world's top three most cyberattack-prone countries for the third quarter of 2022.

Police scandals

Promising: Arawinda Kirana in the critically-acclaimed movie 'Yuni'. (Courtesy of Starvision) (Starvision Archive/Courtesy of Starvision)

Among the controversies that hit Indonesia in 2022, the big ones were scandals involving the police. The Kanjuruhan Stadium stampede in October, a global tragedy that took the lives of 132 people and injured hundreds more, was due to the police tear-gassing the crowd inside the stadium, as confirmed by Amnesty International Indonesia.

Social media users shared their accounts of being there, with a number of people blaming the pitch invaders and many others condemning the police’s violent approach. Some officers were reportedly beating supporters with a baton, which led to the chaotic situation in the first place.

But what remains an online talking point is the murder of Brig. Nofriansyah “Yosua” Hutabarat, who was previously claimed to have been killed in a shootout on July 8 before evidence proved the public’s suspicion was right; it was an orchestrated murder carried out by the former National Police internal affairs chief Insp. Gen. Ferdy Sambo with the help of his aides.

With the police’s corrupt schemes exposed in broad daylight, the controversy is filled with questions and hidden answers that might never surface to the public, such as the reason why Yosua had to be killed or how many officers were actually involved in the National Police’s impunity list. But as Indonesians follow the trials of Ferdy Sambo, his wife Putri Chandrawathi and his aides in court, the little trust the nation already had for the police before the murder scandal might never recover.

2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar

Activists take part in a protest after the House of Representatives approved a new criminal code that will ban sex outside marriage, cohabitation between unmarried couples, insulting the president, and expressing views counter to the national ideology, outside the House buildings in Jakarta, Indonesia, December 6, 2022. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)

Despite the euphoric and dramatic matches it produced, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was tainted for many reasons. Years before it started, the Qatar government had been condemned by Amnesty International in 2013 for exploiting its workers during the building of the World Cup infrastructure.

As the biggest sporting event drew near, accusations of forced labor and mistreatment of migrant workers were rife. Many migrant workers were unpaid, injured or had died under the country's abusive labor system, kafala.

But across social media platforms, one of the main issues that divided people was Qatar’s stance on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) rights. Homosexuality and any campaign for it are illegal in the Gulf nation, hence the banning of supporters’ rainbow flags, shirts or even soccer teams’ anti-discriminatory OneLove armbands in support for LGBTQ rights.

Both in Indonesia and the international world, reactions on social media were heavily polarized. Some believed that as the host country, Qatar’s rules should be respected and adhered to, while others argued that rules against basic human rights should never be followed, especially given Qatar’s reported bribery to FIFA for the country’s hosting rights.

High-profile extramarital affair

Short-lived fashion scene: A look at the Citayam Fashion Week craze at the Dukuh Atas area in Jakarta, which was packed with residents of Citayam and its surrounding satellite cities. (Screenshot/YouTube) (Screenshot/YouTube)

One of the biggest celebrity discourses that happened online this year is the extramarital affair involving rising actress Arawinda Kirana and Guiddo Ilyasa Purba, the now-ex-husband of Amanda Zahra, a housewife who has since gained the sympathy of most social media users.

There is a reason only these two women’s names are mostly known in the controversy. With many condemning Arawinda and sympathizing with Amanda, the cheating husband often got left out of the conversation. But so big and polarizing the hate train has been, that merely pointing out the man’s sin and the barrage of sexual harassment the actress has gotten will cause a backlash in itself.

With Arawinda’s role in filmmaker Gina S. Noer’s latest movie Like & Share, the controversy has since led to an attempted boycott of the film. Amanda also received accusations from the ex-husband, beyond what was supposed to be a takedown of a cheating husband and male privileges.

The revised Criminal Code (KUHP)

Careless prank: Baim Wong (right) and wife Paula Verhoeven apologize for their domestic violence prank in an Instagram video on Oct. 3. (Instagram/Baim Wong @baimwong) (Instagram/Baim Wong @baimwong)

Government policies have always been subject to debates in Indonesia, but nothing as big and divisive as the newly revised Criminal Code (KUHP) this year. The updated penal code, which was passed in early December, was smeared with controversies and incited backlash since its discussion as a bill in 2015.

The new Criminal Code, which includes a lèse majesté clause and articles restricting free speech, has been deemed draconian and “a setback to the protection of civil liberties in the country, particularly freedom of speech and press freedom,” said Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid.

As social media grew over the years, becoming a platform for critical discourse, Indonesians have shown their anger toward the punitive bill, with the slogan “Reformasi Dikorupsi” (reform corrupted) hailed by many in 2019 as a hashtag in the digital realm or as banners in the field during mass protests. The country saw its biggest student demonstration since the 1998 riot due to this Criminal Code.

Beyond curbing freedom of expression, the controversial law also incited a global outcry for criminalizing nonmarital sex and cohabitation. Foreign tourists, mostly in Bali, were vocal about their hesitancy to come to Indonesia after the bill was passed. The government has since stated that the law only works when a family member reports the unmarried couple to the police, a statement that has been met with little trust on the internet.