Yesterday, police officials declared that the investigation into a hate speech accusation filed against President Joko Widodo’s son Kaesang Pangarep would not move forward, with National Police Deputy Chief Syafruddin echoing the sentiments of many by saying the accusation was “ridiculous” and without merit.
But while the investigation into the case might be over, it looks like the politicization of the case might just be getting started. After Syafruddin made his statement, Gerindra politician and deputy chairman of House Commission III Desmond J Mahesa responded harshly by arguing that, should the investigation into the president’s son not move forward, all national police officials should step down.
“If there is no action against Jokowi’s son, then it is time for the police leadership to resign, to prove whether the police are objective or not in enforcing the law,” Desmond said at the House of Representatives on Thursday as quoted by Merdeka.
Desmond said the case against Kaesang should be considered a test for the nation’s police and their handling of hate speech reports.
Fadli Zon, another member of the Gerindra opposition party and the deputy speaker of the House, also questioned the police when told about their decision to stop their investigation into Kaesang’s case.
“Maybe ask the police, I do not know what they mean by (stopping the investigation). But it is very fast. Although the evaluation of such cases is subjective, what about other cases that I think were trumped up?” Fadli said yesterday as quoted by Detik.
Fadli then mentioned that the police were still investigating Islamic People’s Forum (FUI) Secretary General Muhammad al-Khaththath for alleged treason, an investigation the deputy speaker said should also be stopped because he thinks it’s ridiculous and without merit.
Fadli also questioned why President Jokowi had decided to take his whole family, including Kaesang, with him while he traveled to Turkey and then Germany (where he is currently attending the G20 Summit).
Neither the president nor Kaesang have released any statement regarding the case.
National Police Deputy Chief Syafruddin’s declaration that hate speech accusation would not be investigated contradicts a statement made by the police on Wednesday saying that they would call Kaesang and his accuser, a citizen named Muhammad Hidayat, as well as expert witnesses in for questioning in relation to the police report.
According to Kumparan, the report against the social media-savvy son of the president was filed with the Bekasi City Police on July 2 by a citizen named Muhammad Hidayat. The vlog episode itself, titled #BapakMintaProyek, (a dig at children of public officials who take advantage of their fathers’ positions for political or monetary favors) was posted on Youtube on May 27.
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.
Incredibly, Kaesang’s accuser was revealed to himself be a suspect in a current police investigation for hate speech.
