One of the main criticisms against Indonesia’s controversial Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE), which criminalizes any electronic media communication that could be considered defamatory or slanderous, is that it can be used by those in power to silence people with legitimate criticisms against them.
Yusniar, a 27-year-old housewife from Makassar, South Sulawesi, is an ordinary citizen who fell victim to UU ITE for voicing her opinion about a politician on Facebook. Thankfully, her story ended on a relatively positive note, at least when compared to other UU ITE violators in the past.
It all began on March 13, 2016, when a mob hired by a member of the Jeneponto Regency Regional Council (DPRD) broke into and trashed Yusniar’s family’s home in Makassar over a land ownership dispute. Not knowing the identity of the DPRD member at the time, an upset Yusniar updated her Facebook status denouncing the DPRD member as “tolol” (stupid).
Despite not being explicitly named in the status, said DPRD member, named Sudirman Wijaya, reported Yusniar to the Makassar Police for defamation on March 15, which led to her arrest.
Yusniar was eventually found guilty of defamation and violating UU ITE by the Makassar District Court. Thankfully, the judges agreed to reduce Yusniar’s sentence at the request of her attorneys.
“We have granted the defendant’s plea for a lighter sentence and changed her incarceration into city probation, with the consideration that the defendant is a woman, a housewife, and breadwinner of her family,” announced Head Judge Kasianus to the cheers of dozens of university students and locals who came to support Yusniar, as quoted by Detik today.
With this ruling, Yusniar does not have to serve out sentence in jail, but she is not allowed to leave the city of Makassar for an unspecified period of time. However, she will be sent to jail if she is found to be tampering with or deleting evidence used in her case.
