Why
Jokowi must repeal ITE law?
Ary Hermawan ; A staff writer at The
Jakarta Post
|
JAKARTA
POST, 02 September 2014
At
first, it was just another ludicrous Internet story. A woman vented her
resentment on social media and unwittingly infuriated an entire population of
a centuries-old sultanate. She was harshly bullied and later apologized.
This
is a story that we know all too well. This happened before to a young lady in
Depok who complained about having to give up her precious seat on a train to
pregnant women, and to that British banker who referred to affluent
Singaporean commuters as “the poor”. Florence Sihombing is not alone, and
Yogyakarta is not the only city to have indicted a person in the court of
social media.
Our
typical reaction would be to face-palm and remind ourselves again and again
that the Internet is just such a terrible, terrible place. It’s pretty much
like high school, but with millions of inconsiderate jerks.
We
were all hoping that Florence’s apology would be an end to her bad day on the
Internet and we all could go back to our lives, until we heard the news that
she was detained by the Yogyakarta Police — for doing what each one of us has
been doing online long before Facebook, Twitter and Path were invented.
Her
story then went from the ridiculous to the disturbing.
There
is no question that what Florence did — calling Yogyakarta “poor”, “stupid”
and “uncultured”— is not at all pretty. She should have been more
considerate. But what she did is not a crime and should not be criminalized.
For
the sake of democracy, we must stand up to defend her.
This
is no longer about the people of Yogyakarta being over-sensitive (come on,
folks, Jakarta has been the object of really nasty curses for decades). This
is no longer about the cancer of online bullying. Her case has brought to
light a serious flaw in our legal system, which threatens each and every one
of us.
The
Gadjah Mada University student is the latest netizen to fall victim to the
draconian Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law. According to
Florence’s lawyer, she has been charged under Article 27 of the 2008 law,
which carries a maximum punishment of six years in prison and a Rp 1 billion
(US$85,351) fine.
Human
rights activists and journalists have repeatedly called on the government to
repeal this controversial law, arguing that it hinders freedom of speech and
leads to human rights violations.
The
wording of the articles in the law, they argue, is open to interpretation and
can, therefore, easily be abused.
The
law basically criminalizes “anyone who deliberately distributes or transmits
electronic information or documents that contain slanderous and defamatory
language”. While it is important to protect the public from slander and
defamation, it is often unclear what constitutes slander and defamation on
the web, and it is equally difficult to determine whether someone expressing
his or her opinion on social media really intended to slander or defame
others.
In
Florence’s case, it is totally preposterous that you can actually charge
someone for hating a city and calling it “stupid” and “uncultured”.
According
to the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM), at least 37 people
were charged with criminal offenses under the law between 2008 and 2013. Many
of them were people criticizing the powers that be or just expressing their
personal opinions.
Under
the ITE regime, Prita Mulyasari, now an elected legislator from the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), was sued by the Omni
International Hospital in 2009 for defamation after she complained about the
hospital’s services via an online mailing list.
In
2012, Alexander Aan was accused of insulting Islam and jailed after writing
on his Facebook page that God did not exist.
More
than anyone else, president-elect Joko “Jokowi” Widowo should be deeply
concerned about Florence’s arrest and begin thinking of ways to reform our
Internet law. This is because the success of his administration will very
likely depend on how free and effective social media is in rallying public
support for his policies.
In
other words, Internet freedom is required for his political survival.
Jokowi
already owes his ascendancy to national leadership to the millions of tweets
and articles shared online endorsing his election bid. And now with most of
the political parties at the House of Representatives standing against him
and
one
of his coalition partners apparently threatening to leave should it obtain no
ministerial posts in his Cabinet, Jokowi will need far greater public support
to fend off the onslaughts of a hostile and more powerful legislative body.
The
2014 presidential race was a bitter fight for supporters of losing candidate
Prabowo Subianto and they are anxiously waiting
for
payback.
The
biggest problem is that any revocation of or revisions to the ITE Law lay in
the hands of those lawmakers. But Jokowi should not be afraid, as an army of
online volunteers will stand behind him for this.
We
cannot afford to retain the law; not because we want greater freedom to whine
about our disappointing lives but because our new democracy — which relies
heavily on the participation of online citizens — is at stake. ●
|
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar