Have you ever felt so strongly opposed to someone online that you just wanted to furiously type profanity-laced insults to them on social media? Well, thanks to Indonesia’s freedom of speech inhibiting Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE), that kind of thing can get you in trouble with the law, as one university student found out recently.
The student, identified as 21-year-old BP, was apprehended by the National Police’s Crime Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) in Samarinda, East Kalimantan yesterday. His crime was he allegedly tweeted numerous profanity-fueled insults to Minister of Youth and Sports Imam Nahrawi, which prompted the ministry to report him to the police.
Luckily, BP was not taken into custody for his tweets. He told police that he sent the tweets out of his dislike for the minister and was subsequently made to apologize to Imam.
“The suspect was accompanied by his mother and was sent home after the minister accepted the apology and withdrew the charges [against BP],” said Bareskrim Grand Commissioner Agung Setya, as quoted by Detik today.
So feel free to write whatever insults you like online, but bear in mind that as long as UU ITE remains the way it is, there’s a chance you might find yourself being forced to make an apology to somebody powerful, or face the much more frightening prospect of jail time.
