In Indonesia, online defamation can land you in prison

JAKARTA: Think before you tweet or post anything on social media in Indonesia.

Netizens need to be careful or they could be charged with defamation, as the government and the House of Representatives have agreed to retain a draconian article in the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law criminalising opinions deemed to constitute defamation.

Rights activists have called for the removal of the article, but legislators say it should be maintained.

Article 27 of the law prohibits people from distributing, transmitting or making accessible electronic information or documents containing indecency (Point 1), gambling (Point 2), defamation (Point 3) and blackmail or threats (Point 4).

Article 45, Point 1, stipulates that the violation of Article 27 carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison or a one billion rupiah (RM308,000) fine.

The only positive aspect for rights activists is that the sentence for defamation has been reduced from a six-year maximum to less than five years in prison.

Legislators have not agreed to the exact terms of the prison sentence. The deliberation is part of revisions to the ITE Law, expected to be finished in October.

But rights activists believe this will do nothing to protect people from hate speech and will still threaten freedom of speech and expression.

Supriyadi W. Eddyono from the Institute of Criminal Justice Reform said on Wednesday that the House should omit the defamation charge from the law as it was and would continue to be prone to abuse.

“Although the House is reducing the punishment, the existence of the article itself still threatens our freedom of speech,” Supriyadi said.

Hendardi, the chairman of the Setara Institute, a rights group, said the reduced punishment would not satisfy public aspirations because in all this time, there was no specific limit or boundary on what constituted defamation.

“I suggest that the House and the government develop a clear definition of defamation,” Hendardi said.

The ITE Law has seen a number of people taken to jail for online speech since its implementation.