Indonesians love latching onto a good meme, especially ones which allow them to obliquely make fun of the powerful elites whom many dare not criticize directly. However, the freedom of Indonesians to express themselves through mocking memes was thrown into serious question last month after house speaker, corruption suspect and current detainee of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Setya Novanto had his lawyer report dozens of social media accounts to the police for the high crime of spreading satirical memes about him, leading to the arrest of one woman.
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But rather than being scared away from meme making, netizens flooded social media with more mockery of Novanto in the wake of his highly dubious disappearance and subsequent car accident late last week. And now, the minister of communications and information technology (Menkominfo), Rudiantara, has added an influential voice to those saying that meme makers should not be criminalized.
As his ministry is charged with policing the internet, one of the main laws that Rudiantara has to deal with on a regular basis is the country’s draconian UU ITE, aka the Law on Information and Electronic Transactions, which criminalizes any electronic message that could be considered insulting or defamatory to another individual.
However, Rudiantara noted that the law still allows for people to voice their opinions, which is still protected in Indonesia.
“(The memes) are an expression of people’s feelings, you want me to ban that?” Rudiantara said when asked about Setya Novanto’s lawyer’s threats to continue to report more mean meme-makers to the police.
The IT minister also noted that the spreading of such memes would not constitute a criminal act. However, Rudiantara said there were limits to everything and warned people about being excessive (we’re not totally sure if he was referring to the public or Setya Novanto).
“In my opinion, I think it is a form of expression from the public. But do not overdo it. We are human, so do not overdo it,” he said.
The saga of Setya Novanto has spawned many memorable memes of late, such as #ThePowerOfSetNov satirizing his seemingly untouchable status, and, most recently, #SelamatTiangListrik (#SaveElectricalPole), making fun of his highly suspicious car accident which led to his hospitalization but did not prevent his arrest and current detainment by the KPK.
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Despite obviously being busy with many other more pressing matters, Novanto’s lawyer, Fredrich Yunadi, has claimed that his team is still monitoring and cataloging all the memes (which must number now in the hundreds if not thousands) insulting his client and said he would eventually report them to the police so that their makers and spreaders could be arrested just like Dyann Kemala Arrizzqi, a 29-year-old woman who was arrested by the police on October 31 for spreading humorous memes critical of the house speaker.
