General Soedirman is considered to be one of Indonesia’s greatest national heroes for his invaluable contributions to the country both before and after its independence in 1945, as well as for becoming the army’s first ever commander-in-chief. He’s so respected in Indonesia that we have major roads named after him in pretty much every large Indonesian city. He’s even appeared in our bank notes in the past.
So it definitely shocked a lot of netizens to see some kid (pictured above) giving the middle finger to a portrait of General Soedirman. Maybe he never went to history class?
Nope, it turned out he did it out of some weird alay* teen angst.
The photo was first posted earlier this month on Facebook under the account Gopenx All Well, which is a pseudonym. After getting a torrent of hate and threats from social media, the kid erased the photo and his Facebook account altogether.
Even so, it seems insulting a national hero is such a big deal that the police actually managed to track him down and identified him as some seventh grader with the initials JI from Purbalingga, Central Java.
JI admitted his action to the police and said he did it because he wasn’t given allowance money that day.
“He admitted his mistake and apologizes to his friends and all of the people of Indonesia, as well as his Facebook friends, who saw the post and he promised not to do it again,” said Adjunct Commissioner SS Udiyono, head of the Kalingondang precinct of Purbalingga, as quoted by Merdeka today.
While what JI did is clearly in violation of the ITE Act, it remains to be seen if a minor would be criminalized for a foolish Facebook post.
* alay = an Indonesian stereotype for dumb, cheesy teens who type Lyk3 tH15.
