First of all, making fun of a child’s appearance is a terrible thing for anybody to do — obviously. And if you were a parent and a stranger did that to your child in front of you, your anger would probably know no bounds. But what if it happened online? One celebrity mom in Indonesia decided she only had one option left — reporting the haters to the police.
Indonesian soap opera actress Ussy Sulistiawaty posted a picture of her family on Instagram on December 1 and some particularly nasty netizens left comments mocking about the physical appearance of her daughters, particularly her eldest.
To give some backgrounds, Ussy has 4 daughters — the eldest, Amel (shortened to Am) at around 14 years old, was adopted by Ussy during her first marriage. Her second daughter is also from her first marriage while her two youngest daughters are from her second and current marriage with presenter Andhika Pratama.
Gossip account Lambe Turah managed to screenshot some of the demeaning comments.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq2GHS0BWfC/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
@ichajopide suggested Ussy try dressing her children up, instead of her dressing down to look their daughters’ age.
Another user, @inilaras wrote something even more cruel: “What if Kak Ussy only had E and S (her two youngest daughters). The picture would’ve been better, because the other two girls (referring to her two eldest daughters) look more suitable to be your nieces. Their faces are so different, the two youngest girls look more Korean”. She even had the nerve to end the comment with kiss emojis.
Another user @m.citra, echoed the mean sentiment by writing, “The other two ruins the view”.
Ussy responded to some of them, mostly saying that she prayed her four children wouldn’t have such bad attitude as the commenters.
“When we meet face to face, you’re most likely going to ask me for a picture,” Ussy replied to @ichajopide.
She later posted a picture of her daughters with the caption, “You were born out of your parents’ love, out of a mother’s womb, not from a stone. My daughters Am Ar E S, I will do anything for these four angels… ANYTHING! Keep on laughing, my children’s bullies, I hope my heartache will be paid off in some way.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq3bbVjhF7r/
Ussy said the bullying got so bad that she and her daughters cried together while reading the comments. Am was even reported to have starved herself so she could become slimmer.
After narrowing down the bullies to 10 particular Instagram accounts, Ussy decided to hit back at the haters that had hurt her children by reporting them to the Jakarta Metropolitan Police on Tuesday.
“The hate comments have been going on for a while,” Ussy said at Jakarta Metropolitan Police Station, as quoted by Tribun. She added that, while she could accept criticism against her, her children did nothing wrong and did not deserve such treatment.
Ussy’s lawyer, Sandy Arifin said the 10 Instagram accounts were being reported for defamation as well as violating the country’s controversial Law on Information and Electronic Transactions (UU ITE), which potentially criminalizes any online communication that another person could find insulting, degrading or blasphemous. Violations of UU ITE carry a potential maximum sentence of four years in prison.
Ussy said she would also invite some witnesses who had known about or seen the comments from those accounts. Sandy said the case was being investigated but police have not yet commented on the report or whether it meets their standard to open an official investigation.
Do you think Ussy was right to report her children’s bullies to police, or did she take it too far? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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