One of the main purposes of Indonesia’s Information and Electronics Transaction Act (UU ITE) is, ostensibly, to prevent online defamation. But the law is so ambiguously worded that it has been used to punish the mildest forms of insult and even legitimate criticism.
It’s refreshing, then, to see the First Family take the UU ITE-less high road in reacting to an extremely vulgar social media post.
Recently, Instagram account @warga_biasa posted a meme (it’s unclear who actually created the image) which 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). Furthermore, Iriana was said to have “the face of a whore” and that she has a “sweaty c***” in the post’s caption.
The post drew a severe reaction from numerous netizens, many of whom were angered at the vile insult thrown at the first lady. Several netizens also tagged Iriana’s children, Gibran Rakabuming (@Chilli_Pari) and Kaesang Pangarep (@kaesangp), in the hopes of getting them to report the poster to the authorities.
Instead, these were their reactions:
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.
Despite their calls for calm, many netizens are conducting an online witch hunt for @warga_biasa. At the time of writing, the account, which previously had over 11 thousand followers, is no longer active on Instagram.
Defamation is punishable by up to four years in prison under UU ITE.
