Indonesian Police Nab Netizen Over Social Media Insult

BOGOR, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s Electronic Transaction and Information Law (UU ITE) continues to snare Indonesian netizens, particularly as tensions rise following the return of exiled Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) chief Rizieq Shihab to Indonesia earlier this month.

Police in the West Java city of Bogor has arrested a 24-year-old man identified as AJ for making derogatory comments about the force’s Mobile Brigade Corps or Brimob on its Instagram page @brimob_id.

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“We apprehended AJ on Sunday, 22 November, a day after he used his Instagram account @albian_31 to refer to Brimob as ‘idlers who are only good at destroying [FPI] banners, and as Chinese lackeys,” said Bogor Police Precinct spokesman Police Inspector 2nd Class Rachmat Gumilar on 24 November.

“We named him a suspect for libelling [Brimob] under the UU ITE after we questioned him about his actions. We are still trying to determine if he has any particular motive [behind his remarks].”

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He added that police are continuing the legal process against AJ, even after he recorded and uploaded an apology for his remarks to Brimob. 

Police also confiscated AJ’s cell phone as evidence. If found guilty, AJ faces up to six years in prison.

The Electronic Transaction and Information Law has snared Indonesians from all walks of life.

They include pop stars like Jerinx, the drummer of Indonesian band Superman is Dead, housewives with mentally disabled children, to itinerant laborers threatening police for quelling protests against the government’s controversial Job Creation Omnibus Law.

(Writer: Ramdhan Triyadi Bempah, Bogor Contributor | Editor : Irfan Maullana)

Sources: 

https://megapolitan.kompas.com/read/2020/11/24/14253851/pemilik-akun-instagram-yang-hina-brimob-kacung-china-jadi-tersangka. 

https://megapolitan.kompas.com/read/2020/11/24/13575571/hina-brimob-dengan-sebutan-kacung-china-seorang-pria-di-bogor-diamankan.