An ongoing investigation into alleged slander by a sinetron (Indonesian soap opera) actor named Galih Ginanjar against his ex-wife Fairuz A Rafiq has become one of the most widely covered criminal cases in Indonesia this year. It now seems that Galih is attempting to make peace with Fairuz before the case reaches court.
Last week, Galih was charged with slander for humiliating Fairuz in a YouTube video uploaded June 15 in which he said her genitalia smelled like “salted fish” and that their sexual intercourse “usually lasted 15 minutes.” He was detained by the Jakarta Metro Police on Friday while the investigation into the case is ongoing.
Galih’s wife, fellow celebrity Barbie Kumalasari, told the media that her husband has apologized to Fairuz, even before he was named a suspect in the case.
Barbie, who has also been questioned by the police but has not been charged, said she hoped that Fairuz would forgive Galih for his degrading insult in the “salted fish” video.
“No matter what, Galih has a son with Fairuz, so it would be better if there’s an effort to make peace. Then again, and this is the actual fact, Galih was trapped,” Barbie said, alleging that the host of the YouTube video, Rey Utami, as well as her husband Pablo Benua, had led Galih to make the statement against Fairuz.
Rey and Pablo were also detained by the Jakarta Metro Police on Friday. Along with Galih, the couple have been charged with slander under the Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE), which criminalizes the dissemination of defamatory content online.
If convicted, they each could face up to four years in prison.
Fairuz has yet to publicly accept any apology nor drop any charges against the suspects in the slander case.
On July 1, Fairuz filed a report against Galih and Rey for spreading immoral content about her with her attorney, celebrity lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea.
Fairuz’s older sister, Ranny Fadh Arafiq, read her statement to reporters on her behalf.
“Those immoral words have badly hurt Fairuz’s heart as well as all Indonesian women, and they have brought great shame to my husband and my family,” she said.
“What made it hurt even more was that the [YouTube] account owners, Rey Utami and Benua, were laughing while spreading the immoral content, by encouraging everyone to subscribe and publish it as many times as possible to increase their subscriber count.”
Reader Interactions