Defamation Cases

From Email to Jail 

More than seven years after the government began to implement the Electronic Information and Transaction Law, as of 2014, at least 71 people were brought to justice due to defamation, according to the Indonesian Corruption Watch. The cases show how vulnerable ordinary people are to accusations of defamation in today’s online activities, such as voicing personal thoughts publicly.

The case between an Indonesian womanPrita Mulyasari and the private Omni Hospital in 2009 is one of the most high-profile defamation cases that captivated the nation. In 2008, Prita, an employee at an insurance company, wrote emails to her friends and relatives to express her disappointment over the poor treatment and management of privately-owned Omni Hospital Alam Sutera, which is in the posh complex of the greater area of Jakarta, the capital city.

In Prita’s email, Omni was accused of being negligent and unresponsive to customers’ complaints. One of the largest online news portals in Indonesia, www.detik.com, also published the letter. The letter infuriated the hospital management, who later brought the case to justice. The police named Prita asuspect and detained the mother of three in May 2009. In the first legal battle at a district court, the court ruled in favor of the hospital and required Prita to pay around $24,900, many times the annual salary of many Indonesians.

The case received media attention and public sympathy among Indonesians, who believed that Prita had been treated unfairly by a legal system that favored rich people. The public, including individuals, organizations, and human rights activists, gathered their support through a website, www.koinkeadilan.com, which literally means coins for justice, and a Facebook page “Coins for Prita ” to help her pay the fine through public donations. The case between Prita and Omni was taken to the Supreme Court, the country’s highest judicial body. After three years of legal battles, the Supreme Court acquitted Prita of all charges.

Cases Between 2009 and 2012 

Prita’s case is only the beginning of dozens of defamation cases revolving around common people. In 2009, three Indonesians – Khoe Seng Seng, Kwee Meng Luan, and Fifi Tanang – were convicted of writing letters to local newspapers alleging that they had been victims of fraud committed by a real estate company. Tukijo, a farmer, was brought to justice in 2010 after requesting information from a government official about the result of a land assessment.

Another case took place in 2012 when government officer Alexander Aan was jailed after posting on his Facebook page that God did not exist and declaring himself an atheist. He was sentenced to two years and six months in jail and fined $7,367 for blasphemy. He was found guilty of insulting Islam through his Facebook page titled Minang Atheist. Minang is the home town of Alexander which is in Sumatra. Indonesia has one of the world’s largest Muslim populations of more than 200 million out of around 250 million of the total population. In the country, negative comments about Islam can be labeled blasphemy.

Recent Cases (2015)

The most recent case took place in April 2015 when a housewife named Wisni Yetty who was sentenced to five months in jail and a fine of US$729 for chatting privately with her friend on Facebook about domestic violence committed by Wisni’s ex-husband Haska Etika. Wisni was guilty of transmitting electronic data with indecent content. The case began when Haska filed a police report by presenting a printout of a Facebook conversation, which took place for a few months in 2011, between Wisni and her friend.

Another case involved a graduate student Florence Saulina Sihombing who was sentenced to two months in jail for insulting the people of Yogyakarta through her Path account. The case began when Florence was stopped by a gas station attendant for having jumped the line while attempting to fill up her motorcycle. “Yogya is poor, stupid, and uncivilized. My friends in Jakarta and Bandung (the two biggest cities in Indonesia) should not live in Yogya,” said Florence on her Path account. Some people got angry over Florence’s comments and reported her to the police for defaming the city.

Criticizing politicians through social media can lead to serious trouble too. Twitter user Benny Handoko, who had more than 40,000 followers, was given a one-year probationary period for defaming a local politician, Muhammad Misbakhun. It began in December 2012 when Benny posted on his Twitter and referred to Misbakhun as “a bank robber” following an alleged corruption committed by the politician. Misbakhun ordered Benny to apologize for his tweet on Twitter, but Benny refused to do so as he argued that his post was based on a media report. Misbakhun then filed a police report against Benny.

Besides the aforementioned cases, do you know any other cases involving defamation and blasphemy in Indonesia? Have you ever been reported to the police for defamation? Include your examples in the comments below.