The Bandung Police have arrested a man, identified by his initials DI, who allegedly posted an extremely vulgar meme about First Lady Iriana on Instagram last week.
The meme was posted using the Instagram account @warga_biasa and accused First Lady Iriana of only wearing the hijab to cover her shame rather than for religious reasons (Iriana only occasionally wears the hijab, usually during religious celebrations and events) and saying that she has “the face of a whore” and a “sweaty c***” in the post’s caption.
“Our officers arrested DI in Palembang (South Sumatra),” said Bandung Police Chief Grand Commissioner Hendra Pranowo, as quoted by Detik today.
The police said they arrested DI at his parents’ house yesterday. Authorities have not yet announced the charges against DI, but he will likely be charged with hate speech under the Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE), which is punishable by up to four years in prison.
The police have not revealed who filed the formal police complaint against DI. It’s unlikely to be anyone from the First Family, considering that Iriana’s sons Gibran Rakabuming and Kaesang Pangarep both received much praise for urging outraged netizens to ignore the troll despite the extreme vulgarity of the post.
Biarin. Dimaafkan aja https://t.co/8ipVrYz4gI
— CHILLI PARI CATERING (@Chilli_Pari) September 7, 2017
Ignore them. Just forgive them.
Yo orapopo mas. Maafkan wae https://t.co/BaWUa9UpJR
— “kak” Kaesang (@kaesangp) September 7, 2017
That’s fine. Just forgive.
Furthermore, the Presidential Palace also previously called for the public to ignore the vulgar post.
