Police in the city of Solo, Central Java are looking for the person they suspect to be behind a Twitter account that threatened the lives of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his family.
The Twitter account contains many fiercely nationalistic sentiments and often accuses Jokowi’s government of being pro-foreign intervention. But according to Kompas, the police are searching for the user because of this particular tweet posted on January 15 (translated to English):
“Shoot Jokowi dead and his blood descendants using the mandate of patriotic heroes who struggled for the nation and the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia [so that they] truly and definitely become the hero of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.”
Authorities seem to have pinpointed the Twitter user’s location as being somewhere near Solo, as the city’s police have taken the lead in investigating the case.
“We are on the hunt for the owner of the account who threatened the safety of the president,” said Commissioner Agus Puryadi, head of the Crime Investigation Unit at the Solo City Police, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
“The whereabouts of the owner of the account is not far from Solo.”
The police did not say what charges the Twitter user could face if he gets caught, but threatening the head of state is a serious crime in Indonesia. In the country’s Criminal Code (KUHP), Article 104 states that whoever attempts treason by taking the lives of the president and/or vice president can be punished by the death penalty. Alternative charges the Twitter user could be given include a violation of Article 131, which states that whoever attacks the president and/or vice president can be jailed for up to 8 years, and Article 134, which states that whoever defames the president and/or vice president in public can be jailed for up to 6 years.
Two days ago, a court in Medan sentenced a teenager to 1.5 years in prison for insulting President Jokowi and the National Police on Facebook.
