Following the public uproar over Governor Anies Baswedan’s contentious inauguration speech on Monday, during which he said it’s time the pribumi (a term loosely defined as “native” Indonesian citizens) be masters of their own land again, the governor could find himself in legal trouble after his speech was reported to the police.
Banteng Muda Indonesia (BMI), a youth wing of President Joko Widodo’s political party, PDI-P, reported Anies to the National Police’s Crime Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) and accusing the governor of violating a 1998 Presidential Edict forbidding the use of the word pribumi to classify citizens in political communication.
“Ever since that Presidential Edict was issued, there is no longer a distinction between pribumi and non-pribumi,” said Pahala Sirait, head of BMI Jakarta’s Law Enforcement and Human Rights Department, after his group filed the report to Bareskrim as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
BMI also argued that Anies’ speech was a direct violation of Law no. 40/2008 on the Eradication of Racial and Ethnic Discrimination, which is punishable by up to five years in prison.
When interviewed by reporters on Tuesday, Anies said that his speech, and his use of the word pribumi, was said in context of the Dutch colonization era without elaborating further. This morning, when pressed on the matter again by reporters, both he and Vice Governor Sandiaga Uno refused to comment.
The police have yet to give any statement on whether or not they will follow up on BMI’s report.
One powerful politician who defended Anies’ speech was Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who said that the governor was speaking from a historical context and did not mean to offend anybody.
