The family of Indonesian celebrity cleric Arifin Ilham has threatened to report three people to the police for defamation after they made a satirical video in which they poked fun at Arifin’s polygamous marriage.
The video was reposted on Instagram by Ilham’s son, Muhammad Alvin Faiz, yesterday. In the video, a boy has his arms around two girls (all of whom appear to be teenagers) and they giggle while repeating, mostly verbatim, Arifin’s advice about polygamy from a video he previously posted online.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUbgLz_Bg-r/?taken-by=alvin_411
This is what was said in the video:
Guy: Don’t fool around with Allah’s laws, even though it’s Islamic Sharia. Instead of divorcing, children becoming victims, wife becomes victim, just one wife is enough. However, if one can be peaceful like this (with two wives), what do you say honey?
Girl 1: Praise be to God.
Guy: (To Girl 2) What do you say honey?
Girl 2: Praise be to God.
Guy: Then this must be made priority. Allahuakbar!
Girl 1 and Girl 2: Allahuakbar!
This is Arifin’s original video, which was posted three weeks ago:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTagkxFl6ot/?taken-by=kh_m_arifin_ilham
In the caption of the repost of the satirical video, Alvin, on behalf of the family’s Azzikra Foundation, demands that the satirists apologize publicly before Friday, or else they would be reported to the police for defamation. He says that potential legal action against the satirists could serve as a warning so that others don’t insult or joke about ulemas, and that “even humor has its limits.” Alvin also included screenshots of the three satirists’ Instagram profiles and photos in the post.
The satirists have not revealed themselves to the public.
Alvin’s followers on social media have joined in in denouncing the satirists and have voiced their loud support for potential legal action against the three. Other netizens criticized the legal threat, saying that criminalizing such a harmless satirical video is detrimental to freedom of speech in Indonesia.
