The reports from earlier today that President Joko Widodo’s youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, had been reported to the police for allegedly using hate speech in a video have now been confirmed by representatives of the Jakarta Police (previously police did not clarify whether the Kaesang in the criminal report was indeed the president’s son).
Police have also confirmed that they would investigate the case like any hate speech case, which includes calling in the accused for questioning.
“Yes, surely (Kaesang will be called in),” said Jakarta Police Public Relations Head Argo Yuwono today as quoted by Kompas.
Jakarta Police Chief M Iriawan said the criminal report, filed by an individual named Muhammad Hidayat, specifically focused on Kaesang’s use of the word “ndeso” to describe the people he was criticizing in the video.
Ndeso is a Javanese word derived from the word for village (desa) that might colloquially be translated as yokel, redneck or bogan (depending on if you’re using American or Australian English). It is not generally considered a serious insult in Indonesian.
However, based on a copy of the criminal report circulating on the internet (which has not been confirmed to be the original), the accuser wrote that Kaesang’s hate speech was not specifically about the word ndeso but spreading religious hatred. Specifically, it referred to a quote from Kaesang’s vlog in which he said, “Pitting people against one another and accusing others of being disbelievers, refusing to perform (funeral) prayer rites for fellow Muslims just because of differing opinions on the choice of leaders, what gives? So ndeso.”
In an interview with the media, Muhammad, the author of the report, claimed to not know that Kaesang was the president’s son. He confirmed that he filed the report after being offended by Kaesang’s derogatory use of the word ndeso but he also said he was surprised at how quickly the police acted on the report.
“I’m surprised, I have filed many reports, but they have almost never been followed up on, now very quickly I have been summoned by investigators,” Muhammad said today as quoted by Wartakota.
In addition to summoning Kaesang and Muhammad, National Police Chief Tito Karnavian said that investigators would also call upon experts (presumably linguistic experts, based on previous hate speech cases) to judge whether Kaesang’s video contained any criminal elements.
“Later the police will do an investigation, including hearing the information in the report. Later, we will invite several expert witnesses and we will decide soon,” Tito said today as quoted by Detik.
Many netizens have shown their support for Kaesang and disbelief over the hate speech charge on social media, including comments on Kaesang’s Instagram page and on Twitter.
I bet the person who reported Kaesang is a stupid Taliban / a mad IS sympathiser. Jokowi's son only tries to save his country from radicals.
— Ash Almond✌️ (@ashalmond) July 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/HerryRodin/status/882523062226239488
But while many find the accusation against Kaesang ridiculous, some politicians are taking it seriously (or at least attempting to use it to score political points against Jokowi).
“Yes, in my opinion (the report) should be processed and the police should investigate and invite expert. The most important thing is that all citizens of the country have equal standing before the law,” said Gerindra politician Supratman Andi Agtas today as quoted by Merdeka.
According to Kumparan, the report against the social media-savvy son of the president was filed with the Bekasi City Police on July 2. The vlog episode itself, titled #BapakMintaProyek, (a dig at the children of public officials who take advantage of their fathers’ positions for political or monetary favors) was posted on Youtube on May 27.
You can watch the episode here (in Indonesian):
https://youtu.be/zHcbkeDgZ98
Among the people Kaesang criticized in the vlog were those who refused to perform funeral prayer rites for those who supported a non-Muslim political candidate (specifically, former Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama) and people who allowed their kids to take part in a march literally calling for the murder of Ahok.
“I’m not defending Pak Ahok here, but I want to question why kids that young are capable of such a thing. It’s a shame that little kids like them have been taught to spread hate,” Kaesang said in the video.
Neither Kaesang nor President Jokowi have issued any statements regarding the hate speech accusation.
