Despite our best attempts to ignore Ahmad Dhani-related news because of their usual ridiculousness, the singer-cum-politician seems to have a knack for creating controversy that’s impossible to ignore, the latest of which may get him into serious trouble with the law.
The People of Jokowi Army (LRJ), a volunteer group supporting President Joko Widodo, reported Ahmad Dhani to the police for allegedly making slanderous remarks he made against the president while he was attending the November 4 protest.
“We feel Ahmad Dhani has degraded and insulted the president when he spoke to the crowd during the November 4 protest using inappropriate words,” said LRJ head Riano Oscha, as quoted by Kompas today.
Indeed, there are multiple video recordings of Ahmad Dhani circulating online in which, during a speech in front of thousands of protesters, he called Jokowi a “dog” and a “pig” (both incredibly vulgar epithets in Bahasa Indonesia) despite acknowledging that he’s “not allowed to.”
Riano said that it’s unbecoming of someone like Ahmad Dhani, who is running as a vice regent for the Bekasi Regency in the area’s election next year, to insult the president.
The Jakarta Metro Police is handling the case. Ahmad Dhani may be charged with violating Article 207 of the Criminal Code, which states that the insult of a government official in public may be punishable with up to 1 year and 6 months in prison.
Speaking to the press today, Ahmad Dhani said he would make his own counter report to the police against LRJ as he claims that the merit of the evidence against him is questionable.
“So what they have [as evidence] is an edited video. We have the original video. We’re going to report it as fake evidence,” he said, as quoted by Detik.
Ahmad Dhani is expected to file a report at the Jakarta Metro Police this afternoon.
