Police in Bandung have charged a man for his involvement in a prank that saw transwomen given bricks and rubbish disguised as groceries aid, the video of which went viral and attracted nationwide outrage recently.
Tubagus Fahddinar, who took part in the prank as seen in the video, which was uploaded to the account of Youtuber Ferdian Paleka, was reportedly handed over to the police by his mother. He was initially charged with online defamation under the Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE), which carries a maximum four year prison sentence.
“Add to that [violation of] Articles 36 and 51 verse 2 of UU ITE,” Bandung Police Crime Investigation Unit Chief Galih Indragiri told Kumparan yesterday, referring to the act of deliberately breaking the law and bringing harm to others, which is punishable by up to 12 years in prison.
Police are still on the hunt for Ferdian and another alleged accomplice, who has been identified by his initial A.
The viral video, which made the rounds earlier this week, shows Ferdian, Tubagus, and A preparing bricks and rotten beansprouts inside instant noodle boxes before giving them away to unsuspecting transwomen. The men were visibly delighted after having pulled the prank, with Ferdian going some steps further to antagonize the public by uploading a fake apology video and then promising to upload a real apology video if he gained 30 thousand followers.
Ferdian’s stepmother apologized for her son’s actions yesterday, saying that she wasn’t aware of the kinds of videos he produced for his Youtube channel and that she was “heartbroken” by the prank video and the public’s condemnation against him.
Ferdian’s prank video comes less than a week after another Youtuber, who goes by the handle hasanjr11, sparked outrage in the Muslim-majority country after he posted a video in which he goes around offering relatively low income citizens IDR10 million (US$651) if they eat a slice of pizza on the first day of Ramadan this year. He has since taken down the video and uploaded an apology video on his Instagram account.
While we don’t think the trend of outrage-for-clout strategy employed by local cringe-inducing Youtubers will die down any time soon, we do hope that Indonesian netizens will unite for good when it’s necessary, so we can rid our society of the likes of Ferdian Paleka and hasanjr11.
